Welcome to the Cooper Research Group

Our group focuses on improving the teaching and learning of chemistry at the undergraduate level. We use a variety of qualitative and quantitative techniques in order to examine the way that students learn chemistry and to inform the design of evidence-based curricular materials.

Chemistry, Life the Universe and Everything (CLUE) is a transformed general chemistry curriculum, developed by an interdisciplinary team of a chemist and a molecular biologist, that aims to bring about evidence based change in general chemistry.

Three-dimensional learning (3DL) in STEM education is a model described in the National Research Council’s Framework for K-12 Science Education in which discplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts, and scientific practices are interwoven to facilitate students developing a coherent understanding of science. The 3DL for Undergraduate Science (3DL4US) project has adapted this framework for teaching and learning at the university level, with a particular emphasis on transforming introductory (“gateway”) courses in biology, chemistry, and physics.

BeSocratic is an online assessment system developed by our research group that recognizes and responds to a variety of input forms, including text, freeform drawings, and graphs. beSocratic provides students with targeted feedback and offers instructors and researchers tools for online analysis of student responses.

Our research group is affiliated with the CREATE for STEM Institute at Michigan State University, which aims at improving teaching and learning within STEM disciplines for both K-12 and undergraduate students.