Amanda Bongers
Assistant Professor
Chemistry Education
Department of Chemistry
Chernoff Hall, CHE507 (office), CHE501 (lab)
Department of Chemistry
90 Bader Lane
Queen's University
Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6
Lab Tel: 613-533-2633
Research Interest
CHEMISTRY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Chemistry has a central role to play in solving global challenges, but is this how we teach chemistry? We are exploring how sustainability is incorporated into general and organic chemistry education in Canada, and if a curriculum centered on sustainability improves students’ success and attitudes!
EDUCATION AND COGNITION
We’re combining research tools from educational research, cognitive psychology, and neuroscience to study learning in science. This project is interdisciplinary at its core; our goals are to both impact classrooms and inform future research. With our approach, hypotheses from learning can be translated into research questions to be tested with cognitive science, and similarly, discoveries in cognitive science can be translated into practices to be implemented and researched in the educational context.
SELF-CONCEPT AND LEARNING
Chemists are skilled in asking questions, developing and using models, and interpreting data, but are educators helping students develop these skills, or testing their abilities in these areas (hint: no!)? We’re exploring ways to incorporate these Science Practices into learning and assessments, and if these changes increase students’ self-concept as scientists, attitudes towards chemistry, and academic achievement.