REPRESENTATIONAL COMPETENCE FOR CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRYMAJORS IN A PRIMARILY UNDERGRADUATE INSTITUTION

Graphs, energy diagrams, and formulas are representational tools that chemists and biochemists use to communicate chemistry concepts at a macroscopic, sub-microscopic, and symbolic level (Johnstone, 1993). Representational competence is chemistry learners’ ability to interpret, translate, and draw the different types of visual representations. An instrument that assesses representational competence and is unbiased across all factors such as gender, Pell grant eligibility, and underrepresented minority status at a primarily undergraduate institution (PUI). For a newly developed representational competence survey; 1) Are there statistically significant differences between self-reported gender, Pell grant status, and underrepresented minority status in representational competence, and 2) Is the survey valid and reliable for the chemistry and biochemistry graduates at a primarily undergraduate institution? A thirteen-item survey was developed and administered to twenty-three respondents who were enrolled in their first semester of general chemistry at a PUI in Southern California. There were no statistically significant differences in mean scores by gender, Pell grant eligibility, and underrepresented minority status of the test score results indicate that the instrument being assessed does not include biases. Validity results indicate that the survey needs revision, and the inter-item correlation reliability(α=0.79)indicates that the survey is reliable. Qualitative and quantitative data suggest that the survey should be modified to improve validity and reliability while maintaining the lack of statistically significant differences by student attributes