First Advisor

Brown, Corina

First Committee Member

Bergstrom, Cassendra

Second Committee Member

Watzky, Murielle

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Document Type

Dissertation

Date Created

8-2024

Department

College of Natural and Health Sciences, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Chemistry and Biochemistry Student Work

Abstract

General Chemistry, a course that is required for many STEM degree programs, is often perceived as a difficult and stress-inducing course by students. One aspect of a student’s course experiences that can be measured are achievement emotions. Emotions that students can experience that can affect and are affected by academic performance are called achievement emotions. Achievement emotions, such as anxiety, have been extensively studied in recent years in relation to student performance and retention in different courses. Instruments that have been developed to measure achievement emotions in broad academic settings. However, achievement emotions have been determined to be domain-specific, meaning achievement emotions experienced in one setting can be different to those in a different setting. Therefore, to measure achievement emotions that students experience in a General Chemistry course, an instrument designed to measure these emotions in this setting would need to be developed. The purpose of this study was to design an instrument to explore the connections between achievement emotions and academic achievement of students enrolled in a first-semester General Chemistry course, as well as evaluate how both achievement emotions and academic achievement affect student retention in chemistry. To create the General Chemistry Achievement Emotions Questionnaire (AEQ-GCHEM), a previously developed achievement emotions instrument (the Shortened Achievement Emotions Questionnaire) was modified to contain more chemistry-centric language, as well as adding laboratory-specific questions to assess student achievement emotions in general chemistry lab courses, which are often taken in tandem with General Chemistry courses. This instrument was developed through several iterations and given to student populations (N = 1091) across four postsecondary institutions and six semesters. Evidence of reliability and validity was found through the use of qualitative interviews (N = 48), factor analysis, and analyzing the relationships between the achievement emotions and settings. These results suggest that the modifications made to develop the AEQ-GCHEM produced an instrument that can collect reliable and valid data on the achievement emotions experienced by students enrolled in a General Chemistry course. The achievement emotions of hopelessness in the classroom setting and pride in the testing setting of a General Chemistry course were found to have predictive qualities in regards to a student’s academic performance in the course. Hopelessness in the classroom setting was found to have a negative relationship with academic performance, meaning more hopelessness predicted worse academic performance, while pride in the testing setting showed a positive relationship. Through interviews with students, potential sources of these achievement emotions were explored. Further development of these types of instruments and exploration of achievement emotions is necessary for instructors to fully understand student experiences in a General Chemistry course in the development of novel and equitable teaching practices.

Abstract Format

html

Extent

166 pages

Local Identifiers

Graves_unco_0161D_11268.pdf

Rights Statement

Copyright is held by the author.

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