Chemistry taught in high schools typically has group interaction components designed to provide opportunities for groups of two or more students to collaborate. Such opportunities, however, can lead to diminished learning among some students, as domination, group dissonance, and/or non-participation among group members can derail the collaborative…

Teaching reform efforts in chemistry education often involve engaging students in small-group activities of different types. This study focused on the analysis of how activity type affected the nature of group conversations. In particular, we analyzed the small-group conversations of students enrolled in a chemistry course for nonscience majors.…

Improving students' problem-solving skills is a major goal for most science educators. While a large body of research on problem solving exists, assessment of meaningful problem solving is very difficult, particularly for courses with large numbers of students in which one-on-one interactions are not feasible. We have used a suite of software…

The new approach used for exploring new ways of enhancing experiences for students and instructors in science class is described. A fun activity conducted in the workshop for the observation of evolvement of group dynamics is discussed.

Presents an analysis of undergraduate students' experiences in and attitudes toward small group learning in chemistry. Finds that small group learning activities provide a mechanism for students to build a feeling of community in the classroom. (Contains 21 references.) (WRM)