Online CER writing club

We are convening an online writing club to discuss issues relating to writing. Participants are invited to join online, share any issues relating to writing, and devote some time to writing during the session. The session will finish with some clear and achievable writing goals to bring to the next session. To facilitate discussion, places…

#AIinCER Event: 23rd May 2024

AI and Machine Learning in Chemistry Education Research Further details: https://rsccerg.wordpress.com/aiincer-event-23rd-may-2024/ Since the emergence of the application ChatGPT in November 2022, AI has been at the forefront of most (chemistry) educators’ minds. This afternoon symposium intends to explore some of the frontiers of how AI and machine learning are being explored in science education, and emerging…

#TownsFest – Recordings and Further Reading

Yesterday we hosted #TownsFest to celebrate the work of Marcy Towns and her awarding of the Nyholm Prize. You can read about the speakers and their abstracts here. Recordings for each of the talks are below - I have included a key references mentioned if you are interested in following up the speakers' work. Nicole…

#TownsFest – 11th January 2024

#TownsFest: A Celebration of Professor Marcy Towns   See event website at: https://rsccerg.wordpress.com/townsfest-11th-january-2024/ for full details. On Thursday 11th January 2024 the RSC Chemistry Education Research Group will host an online symposium – “#TownsFest: A Celebration of Professor Marcy Towns”, the first in an occasional series of online symposia showcasing work in chemistry education research. Professor Towns…

Open Call for Organisers of MICER 2024

MICER is now operated under the auspices of the RSC Chemistry Education Research Group, and the group are issuing a call for organisers of the 2024 meeting. Details are provided below. Submissions should be emailed to mseery@cardiffmet.ac.uk by 30th November, with a decision anticipated from the Group by early December. Queries can be sent to the…

The future of MICER

As early summer is traditionally MICER time we wanted to update about future MICER direction. Following the reconvening of the RSC Chemistry Education Research Group (CERG), I am delighted to say that the Committee have agreed to formally take over the responsibility of MICER, and coordinate future running of the meeting. This is great news as it means the future of the meeting is…

Revitalising the RSC Chemistry Education Research Group

The Chemistry Education Research Group (CERG) has had a difficult few years in the wake of COVID and the lovely people at RSC Networks have been working away in the background over the last year looking at how to help the group recover. CERG has had a significant impact on the landscape of chemistry education research and…

GCSE Pupils to Show Their Hand at Cards through CERG Teacher-Researcher Fellowship

The Chemical Education Research Group provides funding for teachers and practitioners to undertake chemical education research projects. One of our fellows, Mr Jon Hale (Beaulieu Convent School, Jersey), blogs about his journey. I was awarded a CERG Teacher-Researcher Fellowship to investigate whether there could be a place for game-based learning within GCSE Combined Science, specifically…

Methods, Resources, Tips – Direct your ChemEd efforts the right way – Prof Tina Overton shares her advice

This blog post is from an interview with Professor Tina Overton, Director of LITE (Leeds Institute of Teaching Excellence). Among her achievements, Prof. Overton was a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry Education at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia and has been the recipient of multiple awards, including the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Higher Education Teaching Award and a National Teaching Fellowship.

Stacey Lowery Bretz Webinar – 22nd May 2019

The final webinar in the 2018/2019 season was from Prof Stacey Lowery Bretz on 22nd May at 7 PM BST, entitled: Measuring Students’ Understandings of Multiple Representations in Chemistry. The abstract is below. Abstract: Learning chemistry requires students to become fluent in the symbolic language of chemistry. Developing expertise requires that students move beyond manipulating…

Sam Pazicni Webinar – Weds 1st May

The webinar from Sam Pazicni, University of New Hampshire, wass on Weds 1st May, 7 - 8 PM BST on the topic "Tackling the Textbook: The Use and Usefulness of Chemistry’s Most Ubiquitous Resource". The recording is below:        

Methods, Resources and Tips: Thematic Analysis

Introduction by Suzanne Fergus As qualitative approaches are very different to the research approaches used in chemistry research, it seemed a good starting point to delve into and explore this a little. The most basic definition of qualitative research is that it uses words as data, which are collected and analysed in a variety of…

Gwen Lawrie webinar – 27th March

In March, our webinar was delivered by Gwen Lawrie, University of Queensland, on the topic: Scaffolding learning with multiple representations in hybrid environments.  Abstract: As we step further as chemistry educators into the world of hybrid learning environments, our instructional design needs be closely informed by the large body of research on visualisation, multiple representations…

Renée Cole webinar – 27th February

In February, our webinar was delivered by Prof Renée Cole, Univeristy of Iowa, on the topic "Characterizing the nature of classroom discourse". Recording is below: Characterizing the nature of classroom discourse Discourse in the science classroom has been highlighted as an important way that students develop an understanding of scientific concepts. Methods for analyzing student…

CERG Mentoring Scheme

The Chemistry Education Research Group (CERG) aims to promote Chemistry Education Research at all levels of education and to disseminate these research findings. In order to support the personal development of all members of the group, CERG is currently coordinating a pilot Mentoring Scheme. Academic Mentoring aims to foster a guiding, supportive and coaching relationship…

January Webinar – Kinsey Bain and Maia Popova

In January, our webinar will be one celebrating two early career researchers. Each speaker will take 30 minutes to present and discuss their topic. Recordings and references noted are below Register to receive information about future webinars here (one registration suffices for the entire year). It’s just math: Investigating undergraduate student understanding of chemical kinetics…

Showcase series: Threshold concepts in chemistry – using lightbulb moments for learning success

Our latest video in the Showcase series is from Dr Niki Kaiser, a school teacher and network research lead at the Norwich Research School. Niki is particularly interested in threshold concepts, which can lead to new or transformed understanding. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQysfzgfomc&feature=youtu.be&a=  

Showcase Series: Identifying Misconceptions and Threshold Concepts

Dr Nimesh Mistry presents on identifying misconceptions and threshold concepts in organic chemistry

Theoretical frameworks for CER available online

This book is one of the standard reference sources for anyone working in chemistry education research. The authors have made the book available to share, and as well as being hosted on the Chemical Education Division of the Chemical Institute of Canada website, we are delighted to have their permission to host it here in the…

Scott Lewis Webinar – 28th November

Our 2018-2019 webinar series continued with Prof Scott Lewis who gave a webinar entitled: At-Risk Students and Equity in Post-Secondary Introductory Chemistry. This webinar was kindly supported by Learning Science. A recording is below. Note that there was a technical glitch about 36 minutes, so a few seconds are lost. Abstract A substantial literature base has related…