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Chemistry Education for the

Geosciences: Perceptions of

Importance and Relevant Knowledge

Nicole D. LaDue*, Erika Zocher, Dept. of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois 60115, USA
The role of chemistry in preparing geol- rate how often (e.g., “never,” “seldom,” Parametric statistics assumptions were
ogists is not well defined or quantified. “often,” or “every day”) they think each con- checked (Sullivan and Artino, 2013). The
Chemistry content and coursework can pre- cept or skill is “necessary for an undergradu- “preparation” sub-scores were normally dis-
sent challenges and misconceptions that act as ate degree in the geosciences.” The list of tributed, and the “importance” sub-scores
barriers for many students (Anderson and chemistry skills was selected from topics in skewed positive and leptokurtic. Total sub-
Libarkin, 2016; Barbera, 2013). The American the AGI Geoscience Handbook, which was scores were computed for “importance” and
Geosciences Institute (AGI) Geoscience developed from input from 240 geoscience “preparation” statements by summing the
Handbook (Carpenter and Keane, 2016) iden- experts (Carpenter and Keane, 2016). We Likert-style values (1 for “strongly disagree”
tifies key chemistry concepts and skills for added skills to include aqueous, gas, and solid to 5 for “strongly agree”). A one-way ANOVA
the geosciences. With the diversity of career materials chemistry. For example, in the AGI compared the means between the three exper-
paths in the geosciences, universal chemistry handbook, it states, “Apply properties of ele- tise groups (e.g., undergraduates, graduate
training guidelines for all is impractical. Our ments to solid earth materials,” and we added students, and faculty or professionals). A
goal is to elucidate geologists’ perceptions of two parallel items about aqueous chemistry Pearson’s Chi Square analysis compared the
the foundational chemistry knowledge stu- and gases. Demographic information was group means for the number of semesters
dents need for a geoscience degree. We use collected on the final page of the survey to needed for the various geoscience degrees or
the term “geosciences” throughout, reflecting determine participants’ level of expertise career paths (e.g., B.S., M.S., Ph.D., industry,
the range of degree programs that would align (e.g., undergraduate, graduate student, or pro- academia). To analyze participants’ ratings of
with content outlined in the AGI handbook. fessional). For content validity, two geochem- the skills necessary for undergraduate geo-
Results from this pilot survey can inform cur- istry faculty reviewed the content and lan- scientists, we totaled the number of partic-
ricular choices, course content, and program guage of the items. ipants from each expertise group responding
requirements for geology students. We distributed the survey in the exhibit hall at each level of frequency (Fig. 1). Complete
at the 2018 Geological Society of America data files are available in Supplemental
MATERIALS AND METHODS (GSA) Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, Material item 2 (see footnote 1).
The pilot survey was developed to investi- Indiana (5,625 attendees), USA, through the
gate the perceived importance of chemistry, Geocognition Research Lab (GRL) Booth RESULTS
the amount of chemistry preparation, and the hosted by Michigan State University (MSU). There was no significant difference in
chemistry skills needed for a geoscience Incentives for completion of the survey were ratings for importance statements between
degree (see Supplemental Material item 1). snacks (e.g., candy bar, bag of chips). A total the three expertise groups (F[2,97] = 0.283,
1
The first section contained 18 items assess- of 146 surveys were completed, from which p = 0.754), nor for the preparation state-
ing perceptions of the importance of chemis- we omitted incomplete surveys and partici- ments (F[2,97] = 0.409, p = 0.665).
try and chemistry preparation. Participants pants whose expertise fell beyond the catego- Participants from all groups agreed that two
responded to statements such as, “Chemistry ries described below (e.g., K–12 teachers). semesters of chemistry are necessary for a
is an integral component of a geoscience stu- Surveys from 108 participants were grouped B.S. in the geosciences (X [8, N = 108] =
2
dent’s undergraduate degree,” using a five- based on self-reported current position as: (1) 7.844, p = 0.449) and four are necessary for
point Likert-style scale ranging from “strongly undergraduate students (n = 41); (2) graduate a geoscience career in industry (X [8, N =
2
disagree” (1) to “strongly agree” (5). The sec- students (e.g., M.S. or Ph.D.) (n = 36); and (3) 98] = 5.943, p = 0.654) or academia (X [8,
2
ond section asked participants to report how experts (i.e., industry or academia profes- N = 102] = 14.038, p = 0.081). Undergraduates
many semesters of chemistry they perceive sionals) (n = 31). and experts differed on how many semes-
are necessary for a geoscience student to be Reliability analyses performed using SPSS ters of chemistry are necessary for an M.S.
successful in a bachelor’s degree, master’s Version 26 confirmed the latent structure of (X [8, N = 99] = 23.171, p = 0.003) or a
2
degree, Ph.D., industry career, and academic the survey dimensions for importance and Ph.D. (X [8, N = 99] = 23.020, p = 0.003).
2
career. A third section asked participants to preparation, and good reliability (α = 0.759). Experts reported that three semesters are

GSA Today, v. 32, https://doi.org/10.1130/GSATG527GW.1. CC-BY-NC.
*Corresponding author: Nicole LaDue, nladue@niu.edu

1 Supplemental Material. Item 1: original survey administered in this study. Item 2: original data from this study. Go to https://doi.org/10.1130/GSAT.S.20449821 to access
the supplemental material; contact editing@geosociety.org with any questions.

42 GSA TODAY | November 2022