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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 2003  > June  >
Research: Science and Education
Chemical Education Research
How Students Use Scientific Instruments To Create Understanding: CCD Spectrophotometers
Eric G. Malina and Mary B. Nakhleh
Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907
Cover
June 2003
Vol. 80 No. 6
p. 691
Abstract
We investigated how upper-division college students interacted with a CCD spectrophotometer to identify the characteristics of this instrument that influenced students‘ construction of scientific understanding. We specifically wanted to understand the mechanisms by which scientific instruments influence student learning. The ideas of distributed cognition and the theory of affordances were used as a framework to identify the affordances of the CCD spectrophotometer that affected learning. We found the primary affordances of the spectrophotometer were related to the graphical display of data. Students were able to use this feature in order to: (1) interpret their data, (2) discover unexpected results, (3) confirm the validity of their data, (4) make predictions about their solutions, and (5) check for error. We found other affordances that fit into four general areas: time, error, ease of use, and other physical affordances. Overall, we found that experimental designs and objectives influence the affordances that students perceive in instruments. Therefore, instructors must be cognizant of their objectives for instrument use in a laboratory setting and choose instruments and procedures that are consistent with those objectives.

See Letter re: this article.
More Information
*  Citation
 Malina, Eric G.; Nakhleh, Mary B. J. Chem. Educ. 2003 80 691.
*  Keywords
 Analytical Chemistry; Chemical Education Research; Instrumental Methods; Laboratory Equipment / Apparatus; UV-Vis Spectroscopy; Aqueous Solution Chemistry; CER Constructivism; CER Learning Theories
*  History
 Created:
Last Updated:		 May 5, 2003
February 28, 2005
Link to Letter added (April 2004).
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