Teaching High School Chemistry in the Context of Pharmacology Helps Both Teachers and Students Learn

• Published in: Journal of chemical education Vol. 88; no. 6; pp. 744 - 750
• Main Authors: Schwartz-Bloom, Rochelle D, Halpin, Myra J, Reiter, Jerome P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc 01-06-2011; Division of Chemical Education, Inc and ACS Publications Division of the American Chemical Society; American Chemical Society
• Subjects: Adolescents; Biology; Chemistry; Context; Distance Education; Distance learning; Drugs; Faculty Development; High School Students; Knowledge Base for Teaching; Learning; Learning Modules; Modules; Onsite; Organic chemistry; Partnerships in Education; Pharmacology; Professional Development; Science Instruction; Science Teachers; Scientific Concepts; Secondary School Science; Secondary school students; Secondary School Teachers; Students; Teacher Characteristics; Teacher education; Teachers; Teaching; Teaching methods; Video Technology; Workshops; Enzymes; Oxidation/Reduction; Testing/Assessment; Acids/Bases; Interdisciplinary/Multidisciplinary; Distance Learning/Self Instruction; High School/Introductory Chemistry; Inquiry-Based/Discovery Learning; Drugs/Pharmaceuticals; Chemical Education Research
• DOI: 10.1021/ed100097y
• EISSN: 1938-1328
• ISSN: 0021-9584

Few studies demonstrate the impact of teaching chemistry embedded in a context that has relevance to high school students. We build upon our prior work showing that pharmacology topics (i.e., drugs), which are inherently interesting to high school students, provide a useful context for teaching chemistry and biology. In those studies, teachers were provided professional development for the Pharmacology Education Partnership (PEP) in an onsite venue (either five-day or one-day workshop). Given financial difficulties to travel, teachers have asked for alternatives for professional development. Thus, we developed the same PEP training workshop using a distance learning (DL) (two-way live video) approach. In this way, 121 chemistry and biology teachers participated in the DL workshops to learn how to incorporate the PEP modules into their teaching. They field-tested the modules over the year in high school chemistry and biology classes. Teacher knowledge of chemistry and biology increased significantly after the workshop and was maintained for at least a year. Their students (N = 2309) demonstrated a significant increase in knowledge of chemistry and biology concepts, with higher scores as the number of modules used increased. The increase in both teacher and student knowledge in these subjects was similar to that found previously when teachers were provided with onsite professional development.