AC 2010-1161: AN ATOMIC BONDING MODULE FOR MATERIALS ENGINEERING THAT ELICITS AND ADDRESSES MISCONCEPTIONS WITH CONCEPT-IN-CONTEXT MULTIMODAL ACTIVITIES, WORKSHEETS, AND ASSESSMENTS Stephen Krause, Arizona State University Stephen Krause, Arizona State University Stephen Krause is Professor in the School of Materials in the Fulton School of Engineering at Arizona State University. He teaches in the areas of bridging engineering and education, design and selection of materials, general materials engineering, polymer science, and characterization of materials. His research interests are in innovative education in engineering and K-12 engineering outreach. He worked on Project Pathways, an NSF supported Math Science Partnership, in developing modules for Physics and Chemistry and also a course on Engineering Capstone Design. He has also co-developed a Materials Concept Inventory for assessing fundamental knowledge of students in introductory materials engineering classes. He is currently working on NSF projects to develop a learning trajectory for macro-micro concepts in materials science education as well as materials science modules which integrate interventions for student misconceptions using a 5E (engage, explore, explain, extend, evaluate) pedagogy with technological tools of Just-in-Time-Teaching and Classroom Clicker questions. Jacquelyn Kelly, Arizona State University Jacquelyn Kelly, Arizona State University Jacquelyn Kelley is a M.S. student in the School of Materials in the Fulton School of Engineering at Arizona State University. Her BS degree is in Physics and Chemistry Education. Her principle research areas are inquiry-based learning and development and assessment of inquiry-based modules in materials science and engineering. She teaches physics, chemistry and mathematics in a local arts high school. Dale Baker, Arizona State University Dale Baker, Arizona State University Dale R. Baker is a Professor of Science Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at ASU and is the Co-Editor of The Journal of Research in Science Teaching. She teaches courses in science curricula, teaching and learning, and assessment courses with an emphasis on constructivist theory and issues of equity. Her research focuses on issues of gender, science, and science teaching. She has won two awards for her research in these areas. In this work she is responsible for developing assessments and overseeing data collection, analysis, and feedback to the project. Amaneh Tasooji, Arizona State University Amaneh Tasooji, Arizona State University Amaneh Tasooji is an Associate Research Professor in the School of Materials at ASU and has been teaching and developing new content for materials science and engineering classes and laboratories. She has developed new content and contextual teaching methods from here experience as a researcher and General Manager at Honeywell Inc. She is currently working to develop new assessments to reveal and address student misconceptions in introductory materials engineering classes. Page 15.143.1 Page © American Society for Engineering Education, 2010 An Atomic Bonding Module for Materials Engineering that Elicits and Addresses Misconceptions with "Concept-in-Context" Multimodal Activities, Worksheets, Problems, and Assessments Abstract For an introductory materials course, we address the research question, "How can misconceptions about atomic bonding in engineering materials be most effectively identified and addressed in order to develop engineering students’ ability of understand and apply structure- property relationships of atomic bonding to real-world engineering materials?" Misconceptions on atomic bonding have been well studied for science classes with a focus on materials in the natural world, which usually have ionic and/or covalent bonding. However, the goal of introductory engineering materials classes is to understand structure, processing, properties and performance relationships of materials used in the engineering design of components, devices, and systems. As such, exposure to important engineering materials in earlier science classes, such as metals and polymers, may have been limited. Thus, at the beginning of a materials course, it is important to determine students' prior knowledge and misconceptions on bonding concepts. To do so, a multimodal assessment was created to guide development of an atomic bonding module for the materials course. The pre-and-post module assessment elicited written and sketched descriptions about different bonding types, as well as the bonding types specifically found in metals, ceramics, and polymers. These assessments guided development of "Concept- in-Context" classroom clicker questions, concept eliciting activities, daily end-of-class student reflections, and concept-based homework assignments. It was found from earlier Materials Concept Inventory (MCI) pre-and-post course data, that there was limited understanding and little conceptual change for questions on metallic and van der Waals bonding. To address and repair students' faulty mental models on bonding, an atomic bonding module was created using coordinated concept-in-context multiple representations of content and activities. These included Concept-in-Context: 1) interactive, concept-based, mini-lecture power points that linked bonding concepts visually to context applications and related equations and graphs; 2) clicker questions for rapid feedback to students and instructor; 3) 2-D concept-sketching and 3-D concept modeling hands-on activities; 4) team-discussion, sort-and-match worksheets linking real-world items to bonding and properties and processing; 5) visual glossaries to foster spatial-visual conceptual definition and understanding; 5) open-ended, end-of-class reflection questions that queried student on their most interesting, muddiest, and takeaway points; and 6) homework with equation problems, graphing problems, sort-and-match worksheets and concept questions. Multiple assessments showed significant gains in conceptual knowledge and support of student learning. Details of results, analysis, conclusions and implications are presented and discussed in the full paper. Introduction Misconception research on atomic bonding has been done primarily from a physical science perspective. Traditionally taught in chemistry, students learn the nature of atomic bonds and how they can be represented. However, student exposure is often limited to only covalent and ionic 15.143.2 Page bonding. In a review of student bonding conceptions, Robinson 1 found that students believed that the only types of “real” bonds were covalent and ionic bonds. Continuing, he reported that chemistry students could not recognize metallic bonds as “proper” bonds. Because many chemistry courses aim to teach students to explain the natural world, emphasis is placed on covalent and ionic bonding. But in engineering, understanding of structure and property relationships in metals and polymers is crucial to applications engineering design and also thus an understanding and working knowledge of metallic and van der Waals bonding. Many engineering undergraduates complete their science prerequisites in courses structured for natural science students with limited treatment of metallic and secondary bonding. However, engineering faculty often assume that their students entering their courses are well prepared with respect to knowledge of all bonding types that might apply to materials for their design, selection, and fabrication. If we consider the types of atomic bonding addressed in materials science courses, it is quite possible that this may not be the case. Following a natural science course, it was found that students had never heard of van der Waals bonding and that metallic bonding was often not discussed 2. So when presented with concepts about the behavior and properties of polymers, many students had conceptual barriers to learning. This is also true for metallic bonding. An important challenge for introductory engineering science courses is to build on student understanding of scientific phenomena and help students shift their lens from one of natural science explanation to one of design in engineering with investigation, application, and innovation with materials as a key factor. The goal of this research is aimed at answering the question, "How can misconceptions about atomic bonding in engineering materials be most effectively identified and addressed in order to develop engineering students’ ability of understand and apply structure-property relationships of atomic bonding to real-world engineering materials?" To do so, multimodal assessments were developed and utilized. These multimodal assessments, both formative and summative, gave students opportunities to express ideas in multiples modes or representations. Various representations were used including verbal, written, visual, mathematical, diagrammatical, and graphical modes. From these assessments, student misconceptions were documented. The new Concept-in-Context materials about bonding were created to engage students in multimodal expressions of ideas in such a way that students were often able to resolve and repair previously elicited misconceptions. Background Concepts and Misconceptions In order to learn, students need to build, modify and/or create concepts. These are mentally constructed groupings of objects, thoughts, events, pictures, or symbols that enable learners to organize knowledge by being able to associate additional objects, thoughts,