Affective dimensions in chemistry education: Much left for future research


KAHVECİ M.

2012 Biennial Conference on Chemical Education (BCCE), United States Of America, 1 - 04 July 2012

  • Publication Type: Conference Paper / Summary Text
  • Country: United States Of America
  • Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

As aligned with the main theme of this symposium, a concept paper on the affective dimensions in chemistry education will be presented. The concept paper will be published at one of the chemistry education or science education journals. The focus will be on various latent constructs that have been of interest in chemistry education research, or otherwise, they would be suggested for future research. These are feelings-based constructs, as being not an exclusive list: (1) intuition, (2) motivation, and (3) self-perception. As opposed to cognitive dimensions, the affective dimensions in science or chemistry education research received less attention. The main reason seems to be the practice of everyday science or what is often referred as “the nature of science” we do, which has long been assumed to be reason-driven, separated from individuals’ feelings. While this assumption may work in research laboratories with “extremely excited” graduate students, it may not be a valid assumption when teaching science at large, including at early ages. This concept paper will include a synthesis of the previous research on affective dimensions, focusing on the field of chemistry education.