chemical education research

2026 CLC Innovators Program Announcement

The Chemistry Laboratory Curriculum (CLC) Innovators Program is now accepting applications for the 2026 cohort! This program offers institutional teams from across the U.S. the chance to participate in a week-long summer institute and ongoing virtual support meetings during the 2026-2027 academic year.

  Why is Chemistry so Difficult?

One reason so many students find chemistry difficult is the abstract nature of the concepts. Research based on the constructivist model of learning has shown that as an educator teaches, the learner makes meaning of the content by drawing from their background knowledge, attitude, abilities and everyday experience and this often results in a different construct than that of the teacher.

Cognitive Load and Active Learning

A couple of days ago on Twitter, the ever-lasting debate between lecture and active learning reignited due to some talks at an Educational Research Conference held in Dublin. These talks stated direct guidance (which includes lecture) was superior in terms of student learning due its reduction of students’ cognitive load. The main citation used for this argument was an article by Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark published in 2006. So, let’s dive into what this article says.

Practical Classroom Implementations for Critical Pedagogy

Once one knows about Critical Pedagogy (with respect to Critical Thinking, as was covered in the previous blog), how is that knowledge used? Can strategies be implemented that embrace Critical Pedagogy while not sacrificing content coverage? What are some ways to build criticality in students while maintaining expected requirements for classroom rigor?