Chemistry--Study and teaching (Secondary)

This thesis was planned to aid teachers in introducing chemical instrumentation
in upper secondary or undergraduate chemistry courses.
The problems encountered and solved in the construction of a single
beam visible range spectrophotometer, conductance bridge, and polarimeter
are described. Experiments were carried out with each instrument
to demonstrate their efficiency as compared to commercial models.
Pertinent theory on the operation of the instruments is included that can
be easily understood by students on this educational level. Construction
of the instruments is simple and inexpensive, which allows schools with
limited budgets to introduce topics on instrumentation into the chemistry
curriculum.

An inexpensive visible range spectrophotometer of good
instructional value is prepared as a means of introducing
instrumental analysis to the high school chemistry curriculum.
Design and details of construction of the spectrophotometer
are presented and five standard spectrophotometric experiments
are adapted for high school chemistry. The five experiments
are used to correlate results obtained with the inexpensive
spectrophotometer to those obtained with a commercial
spectrophotometer, the Bausch and Lomb Spectronic 20.

This was an exploratory study of factors that predict individual differences in chemistry learning. Consistent with cognitive learning theory, working memory was assumed to be an important predictor of chemistry knowledge. Measures of chemistry affect, cognitive ability, demographics and mathematical ability were examined in relation to visual/schematic and algebra-like stoichiometry chemistry word problem solving ability and strategy use. 139 undergraduate students (91 females, 48 males) at a major Southeastern university participated in this study (Age ranged from 18 to 39 years (M = 20.70 years of age)). Perceived usefulness of the chemistry material, mathematical ability, GPA, and SGPA uniquely predicted conceptual stoichiometry problem solving ability.