Research
The Atkinson Research Group uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate how undergraduate and graduate students learn chemistry, with a focus on three areas of inquiry: student understanding of chemistry representations, assessment instrument development, and investigation of experiences in chemistry and STEM.
Publications
Hamilton, D. T.; Hollingshead, K.; Atkinson, M. B.* (2024) Examining Undergraduate and Graduate Student Reasoning when Interpreting Infrared Spectra, Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., In Revision.
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Stewart, N.; Atkinson, M. B.* (2024) Quantimon: A Gamified Laboratory Experiment for Undergraduate Quantitative Analysis, J. Chem. Educ., In Revision.
Dhameera Silva, S.; Thompson, R.; Atkinson, M. B.* (2024) BioCheM-ID: Measuring undergraduate STEM identity across multiple STEM domains and understanding the impacts of informal STEM experiences, Res. Sci. Technol. Educ., In Revision.
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Corrales, A.; Allen, A. S.; Garza-Lund, D.; Rodriguez, R.; Atkinson, M. B.* (2024) Integrating undergraduate organic chemistry students’ use of cognitive resources during stereochemical tasks with eye tracking, Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., In Revision.
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Collini, M. A.; Weber, R.; Atkinson, M. B.* (2024) Development of an Instrument to Measure Attitudes Towards Organic Chemistry, J. Chem. Educ., In Revision.​
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Ayeni, O. M.; Migliaro, I.; Omary, M. A.*; Atkinson, M. B.* (2024) SymmSpec: An Interactive Python Tool for Predicting IR and Raman Activity for Undergraduate Inorganic Chemistry, J. Chem. Educ., Accepted.
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Hamilton, D.; Castillo, A.; Atkinson, M. B.* (2024) Survey of Instrumentation Use in Industry: What Does Industry Want New Chemists to Know? J. Chem. Educ., 101, 5, 1883–1890. (DOI: 10.1021/3c00990)
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Collini, M. A.; Miguel, K.; Weber, R.; Atkinson, M. B.* (2024) Investigating changes in students’ attitudes towards organic chemistry: A longitudinal study, Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 25, 613–624. (DOI: 10.1039/D3RP00228D).
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Collini, M. A.; Rocha, L. A.; Ford, J. E.; Weber, R.; Atkinson, M. B.* (2023) Characterizing and identifying influences on undergraduates’ attitudes towards organic chemistry, Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. 24, 723–739. (DOI: 10.1039/d2rp00256f).
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Bodenstedt, K.; Fripp, J. L.; Li, S.; Lu, Z.; Omary, M. A*; Atkinson, M. B.* (2023) Luminescence Screening of Copper and Gold Mixed Ligand Complexes with S-/P-Donor Atoms: An Advanced Multiweek Research Discovery Experiment for the Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory, J. Chem. Educ. 100, 1, 289–297. (DOI: 10.1021/2c00288).
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Rosa, V.*; States, N. E.; Corrales, A.; Nguyen, Y.; Atkinson, M. B. (2022) Relevance and equity: should stoichiometry be the foundation of introductory chemistry courses? Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. 23, 662−685. (DOI: 10.1039/D1RP00333J).
Atkinson, M. B.; Bretz, S. L.* (2021) Measuring Changes in Undergraduate Chemistry Students’ Reasoning with Reaction Coordinate Diagrams: A Longitudinal, Multi-institution Study. J. Chem. Educ. 98, 4, 1064−1076. (DOI: 10.1021/0c01419).
Atkinson, M. B.; Croisant, M.; Bretz, S. L.* (2021) Investigating first-year undergraduate chemistry students’ reasoning with reaction coordinate diagrams when choosing among particulate-level reaction mechanisms. Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. 22, 199−213. (DOI: 10.1039/D0RP00193G).
Atkinson, M. B.; Popova, M; Croisant, M.; Bretz, S. L.* (2020) Development of the Reaction Coordinate Diagram Inventory: Measuring Student Thinking and Confidence. J. Chem. Educ. 97, 7, 1841−1851. (DOI: 10.1021/9b01186).
Atkinson, M. B.*; Krishnan, S.; McNeil, L. A.; Luft, J. A.; Pienta, N. J. (2020) Constructing Explanations in an Active Learning Preparatory Chemistry Course. J. Chem. Educ. 97, 626−634. (DOI: 10.1021/9b00901).
Tang, H; Day, E. L.; Atkinson, M. B.; Pienta, N. J. (2018) GrpString: An R Package for Analysis of Groups of String. The R Journal. 10 (1), 359−369.
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*Denotes Corresponding Author.