Laboratory learning for developing research competence in university chemistry education

Abstract

A university chemistry laboratory should teach students not only to perform operations but also to formulate a research question, justify variables, analyse data, and reflect on results. To reduce the gap between procedural performance and inquiry, a four-module laboratory programme based on ion-exchange materials was developed. The study aimed to evaluate its influence on chemistry students’ research competence. A quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test control-group design was used. Sixty-two students participated: 31 in the experimental group and 31 in the control group. Competence was assessed through cognitive, procedural, analytical, and reflective components.

The novelty of the study lies in integrating the sequence “material preparation-ion-exchange-capacity determination-structural identification-sorption application” into a coherent educational research model and aligning its stages with the four competence components. After the programme, the number of students at the low level in the experimental group decreased from 13 to 7, while the number at the high level increased from 1 to 6. Changes in the control group were less pronounced. Pearson’s chi-square analysis did not reach the conventional significance threshold: χ²(3, N = 62) = 7.08, p = .069; conditional exact p = .072. The result should therefore not be interpreted as a fully confirmed effect. Nevertheless, the level shift and the larger post-test differences in the procedural and analytical components are pedagogically noteworthy. The didactic value of ion-exchange materials lies in enabling students to connect preparation conditions, functional groups, ion-exchange capacity, FTIR data, and sorption within a structure-property-function relationship.