Melanie Cooper, Alumni Distinguished Professor of Chemistry received
her B.S. M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Manchester, England.
She carried out postdoctoral work in organic chemistry before
turning to chemical education as her area of research. She has
been a faculty member in the Clemson chemistry department since
1987, where she teaches general and organic chemistry and chemistry
education courses. Her appointment was ground-breaking, not only
at Clemson but nationally, in that it was one of the first tenure
track appointments in chemistry education in a chemistry department.
Her research has focused on problem solving in a wide variety
of areas, including laboratories and large enrollment lectures.
She is interested in methods to assess and improve students problem
solving abilities and strategies, and has focused on interventions
that promote metacognitive activity. An outgrowth of this research
is the development and assessment of evidence-driven, research-based
curricula. She is a Fellow of the AAAS and has received a number
of awards for excellence in teaching. In 2002 she was named an
Alumni Distinguished Professor. She has also held a number of
elected positions within ACS and was the Chair of the Division
of Chemical Education in 2007.
Current Research
Projects
• Chemistry and the Logic of Life: a new general chemistry
curriculum will use the emergence and evolution of life as the
scaffold and context for introduction of chemistry concepts with
Mike Klymkowsky
• Organic
Pad: development, investigation and assessment of a tablet
based structure drawing program with Roy
Pargas.
• Investigations into the role and use of metacognition
in problem solving with S.
Sandi-Urena
• Assessment and improvement of problem solving with Ron
Stevens and Tom Holme
• Investigation of the effects of cognitive load on problem
solving with Norb
Pienta
• Investigations into the development and propagation of
misconceptions in the chemistry curriculum
Selected Recent
Publications
• "Design and Validation of an Instrument to Assess
Metacognitive Skillfulness in Chemistry Problem Solving"
Cooper, M.M. and Sandi-Urena, S. J. Chem. Educ. In Press.
• "Cooperative Chemistry Laboratory Manual" Cooper
M. M.. McGraw Hill, 2009
• “Reliable Multi Method Assessment of Metacognition
Use in Chemistry Problem Solving” Cooper, M.M.; Sandi-Urena,
S; Stevens, R. Chemical Education Research and Practice, 2008,
9, 18
• “An Assessment of the Effect of Collaborative Groups
on Students’ Problem Solving Strategies and Abilities”
Cooper, M.M. Cox, C.T. Nammouz, M. Case, E. Stevens. R. J. Chem.
Educ. 2008, 85, 866.
• “A Chemists Guide to Effective Teaching: Volume
II” Cooper M. M., Greenbowe, T., and Pienta, N. Eds. Prentice
Hall, est 2008.
• “OrganicPad: A Tablet PC Based Interactivity Tool
for Organic Chemistry” Roy Pargas, Melanie Cooper, Calvin
Williams, and Samuel Bryfczynski. Proceedings of the 1st International
Workshop on Pen-Based Learning Technologies, May 24-25, 2007,
Catania, Italy.
• “Assessing Problem Solving Strategies in Chemistry
using the IMMEX System” Melanie Cooper, Ron Stevens, and
Thomas Holme. Proceedings of the National STEM Assessment of Student
Achievement conference, 2007, pp 118-129..
• “Drawing Meaningful Conclusions from Education Experiments”
Cooper M.M. Nuts and Bolts of Chemical Education Research. Washington,
DC: American Chemical Society, Bunce, D. Cole, R eds. 2008
• Case, E.L. Cooper, M.M. Stevens, R.H. J Coll Sci Teach,
2007, 36, 42-47
• “The Effect of the Laboratory Course on Student’s
Achievements and Perceptions: Qualitative and Quantitative Aspects”
Cooper, Melanie M.; Kerns, Timothy S. J. Chem. Educ. 2006 83 1356
• “Chemical Equilibrium” in Teaching and Learning
Creatively, Connor-Greene, P; Mobley, C; Paul, C; Waldvogel, J.A.;
Wright, L and Young A. Eds. Parlor Press, West Lafayette Indiana,
2006.
• "Assessing Student Understanding with Technology:
The Use of IMMEX Problems in the Science Classroom" Charles
T. Cox Jr., Joni Jordan, Melanie M. Cooper, Ron Stevens. The Science
Teacher, 2006, 73, 56.
• The Top Ten Reasons Why a Chemistry Department Should
Hire Chemistry Education Faculty Members, Melanie M Cooper Chem.
Educator 10 (2005) 1, 50-52
• “Modeling the Development of Problem-Solving Skills
in Chemistry with a Web-Based Tutor” Stevens, R. Soller,
A, Cooper, M. M. Sprang, M. Proceedings of the 7th International
Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems” 2004, Springer
Verlag
• “A Chemists Guide to Effective Teaching:”
Cooper M. M., Greenbowe, T., and Pienta, N. Eds. Prentice Hall,
2005.
• “An Introduction to Small Group Learning”
in “A Chemists Guide to Effective Teaching:” Cooper
M. M., Greenbowe, T., and Pienta, N. Eds. Prentice Hall, 2005.
• “ACS General Chemistry” J. Bell, Editor, Freeman,
2005
