Study of Benefits, Costs, and Risks Analysis in Chemical Design among Undergraduate Students at Two Culturally Divergent Universities

One of the most important thinking processes relied upon by chemists is weighing the benefits, costs and risks (BCR) in chemical product design. Preparing students to be chemists who are equipped to work in modern chemistry requires educating them to reason strategically about BCR. The development of a learning progression in this area could help to support this by providing a research base for how to sequence curriculum so that learning develops coherently. A hypothetical learning progression for BCR analysis is presented that describes likely pathways in the development of more sophisticated reasoning in terms of implicit assumptions held by learners that constrain their thinking. Its development used research in chlorofluorocarbon replacement compounds as a contextual issue for exploring student reasoning. Surveys were administered and interviews conducted at two culturally divergent universities to uncover BCR reasoning while analyzing a case study about refrigerants. The relevance of cultural influences is discussed.