© Division of Chemical Education •  www.JCE.DivCHED.org •  Vol. 85 No. 10 October 2008  •  Journal of Chemical Education 1435 Research: Science and Education Novices’ Characteristic Beliefs Isolated pieces of information Handed down by authority; no connection to the real world Pattern matching to memorized, arcane recipes Fundamental Aspects of Chemistry Chemistry content and structure Source of chemistry knowledge Problem solving in chemistry Experts Characteristic Beliefs Coherent framework of concepts Describes nature; established by experiment Systematic, concept- based strategies; widely applicable ⇐ ⇐ ⇐ ⇐ ⇐ ⇐ ’ Modifying and Validating the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey for Use in Chemistry Jack Barbera* † Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309; *jack.barbera@nau.edu Wendy K. Adams, Carl E. Wieman, and Katherine K. Perkins Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 With the extensive development of curriculum innovations and alternative teaching methods in chemistry education there is a need to evaluate the impacts of these various changes on stu- dents’ beliefs about chemistry and learning chemistry. Distinct diferences exist between novice and expert learners concerning their beliefs about science and learning science; Textbox 1 sum- marizes these diferences in three main areas. Many diferent terms have been used to refer to the types of views represented in Textbox 1: beliefs, attitudes, epistemologies, and so forth. Unfortunately, none of these terms is consistently interpreted. Following Bauer (2), here we use the term “beliefs” as these generally difer from “attitudes” in that beliefs represent a person’s “personal knowledge or understandings that are ante- cedents of attitudes and subjective norms”. Fishbein and Ajzen (3, pp 11–16) outline the formation of attitudes, intentions, and behaviors based on one’s beliefs. Good education clearly should result in changes to student beliefs toward those of experts. Studies by House have shown that students’ expectations can be a better predictor of college science performance than previous mathematics or science experience (4, 5). Tese studies showed that a student’s achieve- ment expectations and self-concept correlated more closely with achievement in chemistry than measures of prior achievements or instruction in mathematics or science. Student beliefs can afect how they learn new information; in turn, students’ expe- riences can shape their beliefs (6–9). Hume et al. (10, p 667) found “a signifcant correlation between students’ expectations at the beginning of the semester and learning outcomes.” Te measurement of student expectations and beliefs has been an area of investigation in the physics community for some years (11–14), however studies in chemistry are more limited (2, 10, 15). Monitoring student beliefs provides instructors with information about how their teaching methods infuence students’ views about chemistry and what it means to learn chemistry. Tis type of attitudinal information difers from the previous work of Bauer (2) in that his work addresses the students’ self-efcacy about chemistry and learning, not their beliefs about the discipline of chemistry. In order to investigate students’ beliefs about chemistry and the learning of chemistry we have modifed the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS), originally designed for use in physics (CLASS-Phys) (11). Te survey is designed to be used in a wide range of undergraduate chemistry courses (from survey courses for nonscience majors to graduate- level courses). 1 Survey statements are grouped into categories that refect various aspects of student thinking. Tese categories emerge from analysis of student response data using the modi- fed principal component analysis method developed during creation of the original CLASS survey (11). Instrument Design Many surveys probe various aspects of student attitudes about science (2, 13–15). Two designed specifcally for chemis- try are the Chemistry Expectations Survey (CHEMX) (15) and the Chemistry Self-Concept Inventory (CSCI) (2). Statements in the CLASS-Chem survey are written to be meaningful for a range of students and designed to address a wide variety of beliefs about: 1. Learning chemistry 2. Te content of chemistry knowledge 3. Te structure of chemistry knowledge 4. Te connection of chemistry to the real world Te diferences between CLASS-Chem, CHEMX, and CSCI are few yet important. CHEMX difers in three main areas. First, CLASS statements probe students’ beliefs, not Chemical Education Research edited by Diane M. Bunce The Catholic University of America Washington, DC 20064 Textbox 1. Contrasting novice and expert beliefs juxtaposed relative to three fundamental aspects of chemistry. (Adapted from ref 1.) † Current address: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011