Ryan Sweeder
Professor of Chemistry and Science Education | Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI, UNITED STATES
Ryan Sweeder specializes in chemistry education research.
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Biography
Ryan Sweeder is a chemist in Lyman Briggs College at Michigan State University specializing in chemistry education research. He studies methods for increasing the learning in undergraduate general chemistry classes using out-of-class activities. He also runs the SPRING Scholars program, a program that helps students explore science career options and develop a professional network. Within his general chemistry classes, he brings his research to bear by providing students with lots of opportunities to engage with course content, apply it to real world scenarios, and gain frequent feedback on their level of understanding. Through these processes he shares his passion about understanding how molecular level interactions can be used to explain our everyday observations of materials, their properties, and how they interact.
Industry Expertise (1)
Education/Learning
Areas of Expertise (1)
Chemistry Education Research
Accomplishments (3)
Leadership Fellow, Academic Advancement Network (professional)
2020-2021
MSU STEM Gateway Fellow – AAU Funded Teaching Fellowship (professional)
2016-2018
Faculty Fellow to the Dean, Lyman Briggs College (professional)
2016-2018
Education (2)
University of Michigan: Ph.D., Chemistry 2003
Albion College: B.A., Chemistry and Math 1996
Links (4)
Journal Articles (5)
Chemistry Education Research at a Crossroads: Where Do We Need to Go Now?
Journal of Chemical Education2023 At the Biennial Conference of Chemical Education in August 2022, a symposium was held entitled Chemistry Education Research at a Crossroads: Where Do We Need to Go Now? The impetus for this symposium was to reflect on how our field has changed and grown substantially in the last 60 years and to challenge the chemistry education research (CER) community to think about how we could most productively continue to progress. As Cooper and Stowe highlight in their 2018 review of the development of research in chemistry education, the field has moved from personal empiricism, where ideas about teaching and learning of chemistry were guided by practitioner wisdom, to a field grounded in theories of learning that seeks evidence to improve teaching and learning.
ChemSims: using simulations and screencasts to help students develop particle-level understanding of equilibrium in an online environment before and during COVID
Chemistry Education Research and Practice2022 Equilibrium is a challenging concept for many, largely because developing a deep conceptual understanding of equilibrium requires someone to be able to connect the motions and interactions of particles that cannot be physically observed with macroscopic observations. Particle level chemistry animations and simulations can support student connections of particle motion with macroscopic observations, but for topics such as equilibrium additional visuals such as graphs are typically present which add additional complexity. Helping students make sense of such visuals requires careful scaffolding to draw their attention to important features and help them make connections between representations (e.g., particle motion and graphical representations).
Improving conceptual understanding of gas behavior through the use of screencasts and simulations
International Journal of STEM Education2021 Engagement with particle-level simulations can help students visualize the motion and interactions of gas particles, thus helping them develop a more scientifically accurate mental model. Such engagement outside of class prior to formal instruction can help meet the needs of students from diverse backgrounds and provide instructors with a common experience upon which to build with further instruction. Yet, even with well-designed scaffolds, students may not attend to the most salient aspects of the simulation. In this case, a screencast where an instructor provides narrated use of the simulation and points students towards the important observations may provide additional benefits.
A cohort scholarship program that reduces inequities in STEM retention
Journal of STEM Education: Innovations and Research2021 Lyman Briggs College (LBC) is a small residential college within Michigan State University (MSU), devoted to preparing students for STEM careers via preparation in the biophysical sciences that is paired with the humanistic and social scientific study of science in its social contexts. This paper reports and interprets the quantitative outcomes of an ongoing NSF-sponsored S-STEM project, begun in 2009, seeking to improve STEM retention in the college via a combination of scholarships and cohort-based curricular and co-curricular activities. The program supported scholars in their second through the fourth year. In examining the over 90 participants against a comparison population (eligible students who did not participate in the program), there was no statistical change in graduation rates from MSU, though there was a statistical increase in retention in STEM majors.
Use of simulations and screencasts to increase student understanding of energy concepts in bonding
Journal of Chemical Education2021 The growing popularity of flipped, blended, and online learning, combined with the need to support a student population with increasingly diverse backgrounds, has led to the development and use of online materials to support students’ learning of chemistry outside of a face-to-face classroom. Chemistry simulations provide opportunities to make such materials more interactive; however, it is important to understand how to best employ them to support students’ independent learning outside of the classroom. The larger ChemSims project aims to determine how screencasts and simulations can be used to best support the development of students’ conceptual understanding of core chemistry concepts in such environments.
