Using the CLASS Instrument to Examine General Chemistry Student Attitudes after Using Real-World Examples and Infographics: The Problem of Shifting Attitudes toward Chemistry

General chemistry, a common STEM prerequisite, attracts diverse student audiences, many of whom struggle to connect chemistry to their majors and hold novice-like attitudes toward chemistry that can be difficult to shift, affecting motivation and achievement. Context-based learning (CBL) has been used in a variety of fields at different education levels to help motivate students, increase achievement, and improve student attitudes. In this study, we introduced a low barrier CBL method to help students connect general chemistry to real life. We incorporated real-world chemistry applications into lectures, worksheets, and an infographic project to demonstrate how chemistry connects to different majors in an attempt to shift students’ attitudes toward chemistry to more expert-like based upon a project idea from organic chemistry ( J. Chem. Educ. 2018, 95, 2212−2215). To understand the impact, we used a mixed methods study across two small, private universities, for which a total of 133 students in general chemistry courses took the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS, J. Chem. Educ. 2008, 5, 1435) at the beginning and the end of the semester for three project iterations, and students who made a chemistry connection slide (an infographic) took a second short survey in addition. Results show that students enjoyed the infographic project and examples in lectures, which helped them connect course material with real-world applications. However, our findings suggest a more nuanced pedagogy may be necessary to see shifts in postsecondary student attitudes toward chemistry, consistent with past studies that have used the CLASS instrument. We discuss, based on this and related studies, ideas of what can be done to shift student attitudes toward chemistry to more expert-like going forward and what may be needed to advance this area of Chemistry Education Research (CER).