Analyzing the Visual Literacy Skills of Enzyme-Substrate Representations of Undergraduate Students Across the Chemistry and Biochemistry Curriculum

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

View/Download File

Persistent link to this item

Statistics
View Statistics

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Title

Analyzing the Visual Literacy Skills of Enzyme-Substrate Representations of Undergraduate Students Across the Chemistry and Biochemistry Curriculum

Published Date

2022-08

Publisher

Type

Presentation

Abstract

The development of visual literacy skills in undergraduate students has both the potential to increase the interpretation of external representations and aid in the development of conceptual understanding. To date, there is very little visual literacy research addressing the capabilities of students in interpreting and storing information, and how students organize this information in their neural networks. This study aims to provide both visual and quantitative data on expert and student visual literacy skills with respect to enzyme-substrate representations. To do this, the data was taken specifically from chemistry and biochemistry courses across the curriculum. Rather than looking at individual data, the data was categorized based on course and was averaged via the Pathfinder program. This allows for the observation of progress, or changes, depending on the course in which the students are enrolled across the curriculum, which can then be used to compare and contrast against other findings. Through this, the Pathfinder program was used to obtain the neural networks of these averages and the network properties such as degree values and eccentricity values. The degree values look at the nodes that are the most branched, or who appear to be the most connected to other concepts. The eccentricity values look at the most central node, or what is deemed to be most closely connected to other concepts, and this is indicated by a lower value. The average student neural networks and quantitative values were analyzed in reference to the average expert neural network and quantitative values. These findings may provide insight into how student organization of knowledge and visual literacy skills are acquired and maintained, which can be helpful in aiding educators adapt their curricula to further support student learning in relation to scientific topics.

Keywords

Description

Faculty Advisor Cassidy R. Terrell, Ph.D.

Related to

Replaces

License

Series/Report Number

Funding information

This research was supported by the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP).

Isbn identifier

Doi identifier

Previously Published Citation

Other identifiers

Suggested citation

Contreras Vital, Juquila I; Andrade, Vanessa; Terrell, Cassidy R; Prat-Resina, Xavier; Morin, Chloé S. (2022). Analyzing the Visual Literacy Skills of Enzyme-Substrate Representations of Undergraduate Students Across the Chemistry and Biochemistry Curriculum. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/241453.

Content distributed via the University Digital Conservancy may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor. By using these files, users agree to the Terms of Use. Materials in the UDC may contain content that is disturbing and/or harmful. For more information, please see our statement on harmful content in digital repositories.