Summary of the Special Issue from the Guest Editors
1
Department of Chemistry, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
2
Department of Chemistry, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Educ. Sci. 2025, 15(4), 509; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15040509
Submission received: 14 April 2025
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Accepted: 15 April 2025
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Published: 18 April 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engaged Student Learning and Inclusive Teaching Practices in Higher Education Chemistry)
We are excited to bring you this Special Issue of Education Sciences titled “Engaged Student Learning and Inclusive Teaching in Higher Education Chemistry”. The retention of students in STEM degree pathways continues to be a problem in higher education, particularly for students from minority groups. Addressing this problem is of the utmost importance in recruiting and retaining high-quality individuals for the 21st-century STEM workforce and, perhaps more importantly, helping all students passionate about STEM achieve their career goals. It is in this context that this Special Issue was conceived.
This Special Issue presents 10 articles describing several ways student engagement can be improved in higher education chemistry courses, potentially impacting retention and success in STEM pathways, or interventions that may lead more directly to improving outcomes for historically disadvantaged demographic groups. Articles more broadly related to improving classroom engagement and learning outcomes include: (1) a report on the use of pre-class activities that use multimedia simulations to foster conceptual understanding of particulate-level models (Herrington & Sweeder, 2024); (2) a study looking at the role of language and reading comprehension skills on learning chemistry (Buell & Pazicni, 2024); (3) a systematic review of specifications grading that finds emergent themes with respect to how practitioners use this assessment scaffold (Howitz, McKnelly & Link, 2025); (4) qualitative research that investigates the nature of peer-to-peer questions during in-class collaborative group work (Dahl, et al., 2025); and (5) a qualitative study that explores the student and faculty attitudes towards the learning and teaching of reaction mechanisms in organic chemistry (Odeleye & Tieu, 2025).
Articles that more directly investigate interventions that impact success and retention for historically underserved demographic include: (1) a study on the impact of supplemental instruction programs on student success and equity gaps (Pham & Ye, 2024); (2) a quantitative study that demonstrates how a mastery assessment structure can improve equity gaps in large enrollment general chemistry (Hartman & Eichler, 2024); (3) a qualitative study that describes how students with disabilities view their experiences classroom accommodations (DeKorver, 2025); (4) an essay on culturally relevant pedagogies and culturally responsive teaching, with a framework for re-envisioning chemistry classroom culture (Wang & Bussey, 2025); and (5) a meta-analysis of previous research related to improving academic success in introductory chemistry courses, with an emphasis on how effective learning environments can lead to equitable outcomes (Chestnut & Johnson, 2025).
We hope the articles published here encourage chemistry education researchers to continue thinking about ways to evaluate interventions being used in their classroom and engage with tools like supplemental instruction, mastery/specifications grading, and mental models in their research. For practitioners, this Special Issue aims to help chemistry instructors from all backgrounds make their classes more engaging and inclusive. Several articles in this issue highlight the importance of being student-focused as we seek to enhance the classroom environment and be more inclusive in our teaching. For example, one article highlights the importance of implementing teaching practices based on students’ feedback to accommodate students from all backgrounds, and another discusses how peer-to-peer interactions influence students’ experiences in general chemistry.
This Special Issue reflects the continued effort of researchers and instructors to reduce equity gaps and increase interest and retention in STEM pathways for all students. We would also like to emphasize that, though this Special Issue is devoted to chemistry education research and practice, the broader findings and lessons learned can and should be applied across the various STEM disciplines.
Author Contributions
Writing—original draft preparation, J.F.E. and O.O.; writing—review and editing, J.F.E. and O.O. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
This research received no external funding.
Conflicts of Interest
JFE and OO each contributed articles to this Special Issues, however these manuscripts went through the normal peer review process and the Education Sciences editorial board approved these for publication. JFE and OO were not involved in the editorial decision-making process for these two articles.
List of Contributions
- Buell, R. W., & Pazicni, S. (2024). Who learns from reading texts in general chemistry? Education Sciences, 14, 1287. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14121287.
- Chestnut, J., & Johnson, C. C. (2025). Factors influencing students’ academic success in introductory chemistry: A systematic literature review. Education Sciences, 15, 413. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15040413.
- Dahl, T. M., Grieger, K., Miller, S., & Nyachwaya, J. (2025). Exploring the nature and role of students’ peer-to-peer questions during an in-class collaborative activity. Education Sciences, 15, 229. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15020229.
- DeKorver, B. (2025). Putting inclusion into practice: Five commitments toward equity in teaching. Education Sciences, 15, 84. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15010084.
- Hartman, J. D., & Eichler, J. F. (2024). Implementing mastery grading in large enrollment general chemistry: Improving outcomes and reducing equity gaps. Education Sciences, 14, 1224. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14111224.
- Herrington, D. G., & Sweeder, R. D. (2024). Using simulations and screencasts in online preclass activities to support student building of mental models. Education Sciences, 14, 115. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14020115.
- Howitz, W. J., McKnelly, K. J., & Link, R. D. (2025). Delving into the design and implementation of specifications grading systems in higher education. Education Sciences, 15, 83. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15010083.
- Odeleye, O., & Tieu, N. (2025). Students’ & faculty members’ attitudes towards learning and teaching reaction mechanisms in organic chemistry. Education Sciences, 15, 357. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15030357.
- Pham, D., & Ye, L. (2024). Lifting the gate: Evaluation of supplemental instruction program in chemistry. Education Sciences, 14, 1196. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14111196.
- Wang, S., & Bussey, T. J. (2025). Re-envisioning classroom culture in an introductory general chemistry course: Description of a course redesign project. Education Sciences, 15, 307. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15030307.
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MDPI and ACS Style
Eichler, J.F.; Odeleye, O. Summary of the Special Issue from the Guest Editors. Educ. Sci. 2025, 15, 509. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15040509
AMA Style
Eichler JF, Odeleye O. Summary of the Special Issue from the Guest Editors. Education Sciences. 2025; 15(4):509. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15040509
Chicago/Turabian StyleEichler, Jack F., and Oluwatobi Odeleye. 2025. "Summary of the Special Issue from the Guest Editors" Education Sciences 15, no. 4: 509. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15040509
APA StyleEichler, J. F., & Odeleye, O. (2025). Summary of the Special Issue from the Guest Editors. Education Sciences, 15(4), 509. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15040509
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