Sara Nielsen, Ellen Yezierski (Miami University, USA)
Research has shown that the affective domain, including self-concept, has a significant effect on student learning. High school students are still forming their opinions about chemistry, and it is important to understand how instruction affects their chemistry self-concept. Instruments in the literature designed to measure chemistry self-concept have typically been used to study undergraduate chemistry students. Situated in the cognitive beliefs system, we will explore the relationship between teachers’ instructional characteristics and students’ chemistry self-concept using the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol and the Chemistry Self-Concept Inventory in high school classrooms representing a wide variety of school and teacher demographics. The instructional features of interest are teaching approaches, classroom climate, emphasis on conceptual understanding, and interactions among the students and the teacher.
