Underwood, Sonia
- Assistant Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry , College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Contact Info
Overview
overview
- Sonia Underwood joined FIU in January 2016 after working as a Research Associate at Michigan State University in the area of chemistry education research. Prior to that, she received her PhD in Chemistry focused on chemistry education from Clemson University. Underwood's research area is focused on implementing and assessing curriculum transformation efforts using both qualitative and quantitative methods.
research interests
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Research Areas
Chemistry education
Better understanding how students learn to develop their chemistry knowledge as well as how they relate this knowledge for their other science courses
The three research projects currently ongoing are:
Developing assessment measures to determine the impact of curriculum transformations.
Investigating the ways in which students use a chemical structure (i.e. Lewis structure) to predict a compound's macroscopic properties (i.e. reactivity and acidity/basicity).
Exploring the connections students make between their chemistry, biology, and physics courses.
Scholarly & Creative Works
selected publications
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Article
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2020Students' use of chemistry core ideas to explain the structure and stability ofDNA. BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY EDUCATION.Full Text via DOI: 10.1002/bmb.21391 Web of Science: 000568073700001
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2020Characterizing college science instruction: The Three-Dimensional Learning Observation Protocol. PLOS ONE. 15.Full Text via DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0234640 Web of Science: 000542957200021
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2019Reasoning about Reactions in Organic Chemistry: Starting It in General Chemistry. JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION. 96:213-226.Full Text via DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00784 Web of Science: 000478008600004
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2019Predictions and constructing explanations: an investigation into introductory chemistry students' understanding of structure-property relationships. CHEMISTRY EDUCATION RESEARCH AND PRACTICE. 20:316-328.Full Text via DOI: 10.1039/c8rp00195b Web of Science: 000482260100024
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2018Evaluating the extent of a large-scale transformation in gateway science courses. SCIENCE ADVANCES. 4.Full Text via DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aau0554 Web of Science: 000449221200052
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2018Developing an Analytical Framework to Characterize Student Reasoning about Complex Processes. CBE-LIFE SCIENCES EDUCATION. 17.Full Text via DOI: 10.1187/cbe.17-10-0225 Web of Science: 000443850200012
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2018Connecting Structure-Property and Structure-Function Relationships across the Disciplines of Chemistry and Biology: Exploring Student Perceptions. CBE-LIFE SCIENCES EDUCATION. 17.Full Text via DOI: 10.1187/cbe.18-01-0004 Web of Science: 000437038800023
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2018Adapting Assessment Tasks To Support Three-Dimensional Learning. JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION. 95:207-217.Full Text via DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00645 Web of Science: 000426012300005
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2018Energy Connections and Misconnections across Chemistry and Biology. CBE-LIFE SCIENCES EDUCATION. 17.Full Text via DOI: 10.1187/cbe.17-08-0169 Web of Science: 000429925100009
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2017Core Ideas and Topics: Building Up or Drilling Down?. JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION. 94:541-548.Full Text via DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00900 Web of Science: 000401787400002
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2016Investigating Students' Reasoning about Acid-Base Reactions. JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION. 93:1703-1712.Full Text via DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00417 Web of Science: 000385903100004
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2016When do students recognize relationships between molecular structure and properties? A longitudinal comparison of the impact of traditional and transformed curricula. CHEMISTRY EDUCATION RESEARCH AND PRACTICE. 17:365-380.Full Text via DOI: 10.1039/C5RP00217F Web of Science: 000373511500011
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Editorial Material
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2017Comment on "Analyzing the Role of Science Practices in ACS Exam Items". JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION. 673-674.Full Text via DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00170 Web of Science: 000404092400002
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Meeting Abstract
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2019Assessing students' ability to create interdisciplinary connections: entropy to osmosis. ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY.Web of Science: 000478860503709
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2019Challenges and lessons learned during the initial propagation of a curriculum. ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY.Web of Science: 000478860503780
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2019Characterizing instruction in undergraduate science courses: The three-dimensional learning observational protocol. ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY.Web of Science: 000478860503768
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2019Investigating the impact of three-dimensional learning on student understanding. ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY.Web of Science: 000478860503708
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2018Development of assessments for student understanding of core chemistry ideas in introductory biology. ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY.Web of Science: 000435537703324
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2018Improving student understanding of intermolecular forces with transformed curricula materials. ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY.Web of Science: 000435537703933
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2018Investigating how undergraduate general chemistry students interpret and explain everyday phenomena. ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY.Web of Science: 000435537704027
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2018Investigating the impact of an alternative general chemistry curriculum among diverse classroom environments. ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY.Web of Science: 000435537705201
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2018Investigating the impact of using transformed curriculum materials on structure-property relationships in a traditional general chemistry course. ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY.Web of Science: 000435537705198
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2017Considering the relationship between structure, properties, and function: How students connect these ideas across their introductory chemistry and biology courses. ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY.Web of Science: 000430568503796
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2017Developing assessments to characterize student reasoning about interdisciplinary phenomena. ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY.Web of Science: 000430568505694
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2017Making predictions and constructing explanations: An investigation into introductory chemistry students' understanding of structure-property relationships. ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY.Web of Science: 000430568505693
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Preprint
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Proceedings Paper
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2016Developing an empirically grounded framework to assess interdisciplinarity of student explanations of everyday phenomena. 2013 PHYSICS EDUCATION RESEARCH CONFERENCE. 220-223.Full Text via DOI: 10.1119/perc.2016.pr.050 Web of Science: 000393035800053
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Review
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2020Using Memes in the Classroom as a Final Exam Review Activity. JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION. 1381-1386.Full Text via DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00068 Web of Science: 000535226300022
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Research
principal investigator on
- Collaborative Research: Extending the Coherent Gateway to STEM Teaching and Learning awarded by National Science Foundation 2017 - 2022
- Collaborative Research: Creating assessments for student understanding of core chemistry ideas in introductory biology awarded by National Science Foundation 2017 - 2020
subproject principal investigator on
- NSF Graduate Research Fellowships awarded by National Science Foundation 2020 - 2025
Contact
full name
- Sonia Underwood
Identifiers
ORCID iD
- https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4919-2758 (confirmed)
visualizations
Recent publications and grants in Scholars@FIU
publication subject areas
Citation index-derived subject areas the researcher has published in