Uses of Integrated Chemistry and Cross-Disciplinary Science Courses in Science Education Research

This study aims at focusing on the uses of integrated chemistry and cross-disciplinary science courses that are in science education research. It seeks to address the concepts that are taught in chemistry lessons from which tutors or researchers focus on when teaching from the interface of another discipline and the challenges that students encounter when studying these concepts. Uses or objectives of cross-disciplinary science courses will also be given close focus in this study.

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Uses of integrated chemistry and cross-disciplinary science courses in science education research
USES OF INTEGRATED CHEMISTRY AND CROSS-DISCIPLINARY SCIENCE
COURSES IN SCIENCE EDUCATION RESEARCH.
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Uses of integrated chemistry and cross-disciplinary science courses in science education research
Abstract
This study aims at focusing on the uses of integrated chemistry and cross-disciplinary science
courses that are in science education research. It seeks to address the concepts that are taught in
chemistry lessons from which tutors or researchers focus on when teaching from the interface of
another discipline and the challenges that students encounter when studying these concepts. Uses
or objectives of cross-disciplinary science courses will also be given close focus in this study. It
is important to keep in mind that, since chemistry and biology courses’ have been integrated into
each other than Physics to Biology or Physics to Chemistry, the disciplines and sub-disciplines
born from the relationship between Biology and Chemistry will be prioritized in this review.
This review is essentially based on teaching and learning of integrated sciences among tutors or
researchers and science undergraduate students.

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Uses of integrated chemistry and cross-disciplinary science courses in science education research
Introduction
According to the Oxford dictionary, to integrate is to form something in wholesome from
combining two things together. Traditionally, science was made up of Chemistry, Biology and
Physics. Integrated chemistry is therefore a discipline that combines either Biology and
Chemistry or Physics and Chemistry together to form a whole discipline. (Abdella, Walczak,
Kandl, & Schwinefus, 2011).
Cross-disciplinary courses in science education research are the activities that usually involve
two or more science academic disciplines. (National Research Council. 2012). As much as, the
traditional sciences are the most recognized which usually fall in the field of biological and
physical sciences, other disciplines like philosophy, sociology, law …etc. are sciences too which
fall in the field of humanities and social sciences.
Integrated sciences and cross disciplinary science courses have been a major focus of many
institutions all over the world. Biochemistry is a discipline born from the integration of
chemistry and biology that seeks to incorporate a broad spectrum of experts from both
disciplines in investigating and studying chemical interactions in living organisms and
microorganisms. On the other hand, undergraduate institutions that tutor Neuroscience
incorporate philosophy, computer science, chemistry and several other disciplines in training
their students for a Neuroscience degree. Therefore, it is essential to recognize that chemistry has
become inter-disciplined in lab experiments and teaching which has also led to the introduction
of such disciplines as chemical biology. Biological chemistry is another sub-discipline that has
emerged from chemistry. (Orgill, & Cooper, 2015).

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Uses of integrated chemistry and cross-disciplinary science courses in science education research
It is important to note that integration of science has been faster between chemistry and biology
than between biology and physics. (Dreyfus, Geller, Gouvea, Sawtelle, Turpen, & Redish, 2013).
For instance, in the development of science integrated courses in The University of Maryland,
there have been few to none courses focused on Biology by Physics as compared to Biology and
Chemistry. (Redish, & Cooke, 2013).
Medicine is born from biology and recently, tutors from Medicine and Chemistry departments in
various STEM institutions have developed courses to incorporate chemistry at the undergraduate
studies level of Medicine. However, the concepts taught are those that are geared in helping the
student with the noble task of applying certain topics taught in chemistry in medicine.
From the above build up, we can ask ourselves, is it really essential to teach a humanity
undergraduate student abstract chemistry concepts who probably has no prior chemistry
knowledge? Or in the discipline of biochemistry, which is an integration of chemistry and
biology, are there any challenges that undergraduate students studying biochemistry face? And
what measures are institutions and biochemists experts taking in order to disseminate the course
material effectively?
Literature review
Objectives of learning cross-disciplinary/inter-disciplinary science education. There are
certain set goals and objectives that are set by curriculum experts of various science disciplines
when developing the various courses to be studied by undergraduate students in the institutions
of learning. Failure to have learning objectives of a particular developed course, then it would
not be important to study that course.

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Uses of integrated chemistry and cross-disciplinary science courses in science education research
The following are the major learning objectives or uses: development of deeper levels of
understanding concepts, to change the student expectations and attitude towards the discipline,
metacognition of the learned discipline expertise and development of scientific reasoning
techniques. (Gouvea, Sawtelle, Geller, & Turpen, 2013).
Development of deeper levels of understanding concepts. Learning a certain concept from
different contexts equips the student with better and deeper understanding of when and how to
apply that concept to a practical problem. This is only possible if the student has the good
coherence of the concept from whatever the discipline the concept is sourced from. But learning
of a certain concept from multifaceted disciplines with the student lacking coherence and
understanding of the concept and where it should be applied becomes very problematic. (Klein,
2010). Energy concept, for example, depends on the context it is learned. For instance,
electromagnetic energy in Physics, ionization energy in chemistry and metabolic energy in
biology. Each energy has its own meaning depending on the course but it is solely up to the
student to place each concept in its own context in accordance with their coherent
comprehension of the concept in question.
To change the student’s attitude and expectations towards a discipline. Not much has been
researched or known about the reasons as to why some students have negative perceptions and
attitudes towards certain disciplines. It is vital that they are introduced to other disciplines,
different from their majors. This helps the students appreciate other disciplines that they are not
studying in their majors. This also changes their perceived expectations of these disciplines.

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Uses of integrated chemistry and cross-disciplinary science courses in science education research
Chemistry students usually have an analytical approach towards problems while biology students
commonly have a theoretical approach. Merging of these two disciplines helps the students of
either discipline in appreciating the discipline the other student is pursuing, giving them the
ability to approach a problem from different angles.
Metacognition of the learned discipline expertise. The importance of pursuing a certain
discipline is to be equipped with problem solving techniques in case the student is presented with
a problem which the student is expected to solve in accordance to what they have learned from
class or laboratories. Therefore, cross-discipline education equips the learner with the ability to
apply certain concepts to certain problems after reasoning strategically using old class-learned or
new personally invented strategies. (Dreyfus, Geller, Gouvea, Sawtelle, Turpen, & Redish,
2013).
Development of scientific reasoning techniques or strategies. Scientists apply specific
reasoning techniques and strategies which differ in accordance with the discipline in question.
(Wong, & Hodson, 2009). In classrooms, lessons equip students with the know-how of
approaching problems in accordance with what is disseminated in a class by the tutors for
instance use of chemical equations in chemistry or practical calculations in Physics. Real life
problems will require a wholesome knowledge of the strategies needed to approach either of the
disciplines in accordance with the students’ knowledge from concepts taught in class and in the
laboratory.

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Uses of integrated chemistry and cross-disciplinary science courses in science education research
Chemistry concepts. As earlier stated, chemistry is integrated with biology in the development
of biochemistry and the sub-disciplines of chemical biology and biological chemistry.
Chemistry concepts have also been incorporated in medicine but channeled through biology in
the tutoring of medical students by the relevance of these chemistry concepts to the medical
student’s needs. The following table gives a summary of chemistry concepts and biology
concepts in tutoring students.
Chemistry lecture Topics Biology lecture Topics
Biochemistry Methionine case study
Le Chatelier’s principle Blood oxygen levels
Thermodynamics Glucose oxidation
Rate laws Glucose oxidation kinetics
Transition metals Lead poisoning treatment
The table gives a short description of the chemistry concepts that tutors laid emphasis on when
teaching from a biology interface particularly medicine. Since medical students showed
indifference to the chemistry concepts taught or lacked enthusiasm towards chemistry concepts,
tutors used chemistry concepts tailored biologically in asking questions in biology tests. This not
only proved successful by enhancing the students’ attitude and perception towards chemistry but
also facilitated the better cognition of biology concepts by linking them with chemistry concepts.

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Uses of integrated chemistry and cross-disciplinary science courses in science education research
Challenges students face. A lot of research has been done on biochemistry, unlike other
disciplines and sub-disciplines. The following outlined challenges are concerned with challenges
that biochemistry students encounter when studying biochemical concepts.
Biochemistry is a broad discipline with a lot of abstract information which is difficult to learn
and thus tends to overwhelm students studying it. Secondly, some biochemistry students lack
sufficient prior biology or chemistry knowledge which is commonly used as a reference point for
building upon new biochemical concepts. (Villafañe, Bailey, Loertscher, Minderhout, & Lewis,
2011).
If by any chance students have a negative attitude or misperceptions about prior biology or
chemistry concepts, then these misconceptions will affect the students’ ability to comprehend the
biochemical concepts that are directly related to biology or chemistry.
Biochemistry tends to use non-internal representations. Research has shown that biochemistry
students find it difficult to interpret and understand these external representations used in their
classrooms. Finally, the vocabulary and language used by tutors and researchers tend to be
difficult or different from the language used in traditional sciences. A biochemistry student who
lacks clear comprehension of the metaphors used in the classroom or in textbooks that give the
coursework covered ends up confused, overwhelmed and unable to cope with the pressure of
understanding new concepts explained from un comprehended analogs.

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Uses of integrated chemistry and cross-disciplinary science courses in science education research
Method
In order to address the research question, qualitative methods would be most appropriate to use.
Students studying a certain science course say medicine or biology would be tutored by the same
tutor on a chemistry unit partly developed for their coursework. They would then be given
questions tailored to real-life problems concerning strategic adaption of their major course and
the tutored chemistry course.
Responses would also be weighed in accordance with the student’s ability to creatively come up
with responses which require prior knowledge of chemistry. (Orgill, & Cooper 2015). At the end
of the semester, questionnaires would be handed out to a sample of students from both classes
and responses analyzed in accordance to how they perceived the coursework to give them better
cognition of real-world problems.

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Uses of integrated chemistry and cross-disciplinary science courses in science education research
References
Abdella, B. R., Walczak, M. M., Kandl, K. A., & Schwinefus, J. J. (2011). Integrated chemistry
and biology for first-year college students. Journal of Chemical Education, 88(9), 1257-1263.)
(National Research Council. (2012). Discipline-based education research: Understanding and
improving learning in undergraduate science and engineering. National Academies Press.)
Orgill, M., & Cooper, M. M. (2015). Teaching and learning about the interface between
chemistry and biology. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 16(4), 711-713.
Dreyfus, B. W., Geller, B. D., Gouvea, J., Sawtelle, V., Turpen, C., & Redish, E. F. (2013).
Negative energy: Why interdisciplinary physics requires multiple ontologies. arXiv preprint
arXiv:1307.5106.
Redish, E. F., & Cooke, T. J. (2013). Learning each other's ropes: negotiating interdisciplinary
authenticity. CBE-Life Sciences Education, 12(2), 175-186.
Klein, J. T. (2010). A taxonomy of interdisciplinarity. The Oxford handbook of
interdisciplinarity, 15, 15-30.
Gouvea, J. S., Sawtelle, V., Geller, B. D., & Turpen, C. (2013). A framework for analyzing
interdisciplinary tasks: implications for student learning and curricular design. CBE-Life
Sciences Education, 12(2), 187-205.

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Uses of integrated chemistry and cross-disciplinary science courses in science education research
Wong, S. L., & Hodson, D. (2009). From the horse's mouth: What scientists say about scientific
investigation and scientific knowledge. Science education, 93(1), 109-130.
Villafañe, S. M., Bailey, C. P., Loertscher, J., Minderhout, V., & Lewis, J. E. (2011).
Development and analysis of an instrument to assess student understanding of foundational
concepts before biochemistry coursework. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Education, 39(2), 102-109.