Chemistry Education Reform in a Regional Community Clinic Lab

Thesis Abstract

The study investigates chemistry education reform within a regional community clinic laboratory to address persistent gaps in students’ practical competence, scientific literacy, and engagement with real-world health contexts. The problem addressed is the mismatch between classroom chemistry concepts and on-site laboratory practices, which constrains students’ ability to perform accurate analyses, interpret results, and apply chemico-ethical reasoning in community health settings. The aim is to design, implement, and evaluate a contextually grounded reform that integrates authentic chemical analysis procedures, biosafety culture, and reflective practice into the clinic’s routine operations. Specific objectives are (i) to identify current teaching and practice gaps through mixed methods; (ii) to develop a reform framework combining inquiry-based learning, authentic assays, and safety education; (iii) to implement a 12-week curriculum intervention aligned with national chemistry standards and clinic workflows; (iv) to assess impact on students’ procedural competency, conceptual understanding, and scientific reasoning; and (v) to evaluate sustainability and scalability of the reform within similar regional health settings. The study adopts a mixed-methods research design, drawing on pragmatism to integrate quantitative and qualitative strands. The population comprises 120 undergraduate chemistry students enrolled in a regional university’s extended curriculum program and 15 clinical supervisors at the regional clinic laboratory. A stratified random sampling approach selects 60 students (balanced by year) for the intervention and 30 for a control group, while all 15 supervisors participate in fidelity monitoring. Data collection instruments include validated practical assessment rubrics for wet-lab techniques, a 20-item multiple-choice diagnostic test on core chemistry concepts, a 10-item Likert-scale survey measuring self-efficacy in laboratory procedures, a semi-structured interview protocol for supervisors, and a thematic analysis guide for reflective journals kept by students. Instrument validity is established through content validity indices by a panel of five chemistry education experts, and reliability is confirmed with Cronbach’s alpha (? > .80) for the survey and inter-rater reliability (? > .70) for performance rubrics. Data analysis employs descriptive statistics and inferential methods, including repeated-measures ANOVA to examine within- and between-group differences on competency and conceptual understanding, multiple regression to identify predictors of procedural mastery, and thematic analysis of interview and reflective data triangulated with supervisor feedback. A conceptual framework anchored in constructivist theory and situated cognition, with reference to Ausubel’s meaningful learning and Kolb’s experiential learning cycle, guides interpretation. The reform integrates authentic analytical techniques (colorimetric assays, titrations, basic spectrophotometry), biosafety and waste management practices, and reflective practice prompts anchored to community health outcomes. Expected findings include significant gains in practical competencies (effect size ? 0.50), improved conceptual test scores (p < .05), enhanced self-efficacy (mean increase ? 0.6 on a 5-point scale), and positive shifts in supervisors’ perceptions of student readiness for field-based analytical work. Qualitative data are anticipated to reveal deeper integration of theory and practice, heightened awareness of ethical considerations in clinical chemistry, and increased student engagement driven by real-world relevance. The study contributes to knowledge by offering a rigorously evaluated, scalable model for chemistry education reform in resource-constrained clinical environments, demonstrating how authentic practice, safety culture, and reflective learning synergistically improve both learning outcomes and clinic operations. It extends existing literature on authentic assessment and place-based chemistry education by providing empirically grounded guidelines for curriculum design, assessment, and stakeholder collaboration in regional health institutional contexts. The main conclusion is that a carefully designed, participatory reform that aligns university chemistry instruction with clinic workflows can produce meaningful improvements in student competency and confidence without compromising safety or clinic efficiency. Recommendations include developing a modular reform package adaptable to other regional clinics, establishing ongoing professional development for clinical supervisors, integrating digital data capture and feedback loops to monitor progress, and pursuing longitudinal studies to assess long-term retention and post-graduate outcomes.