Dr. Kelly is a chemical educator whose research interests involve studying how molecular level animations affect college level students' understanding of general chemistry concepts and examining the expert-novice continuum to depict key features and segments to develop visualization design principles. She is also interested in understanding how misconceptions or alternative conceptions are developed and overturned.

Contact Information

Dr. Resa Kelly
Professor, Chemistry & Science Education
Director, Science Education Program
Email: resa.kelly@sjsu.edu
Phone: 408-924-4940
Office: 418 Duncan Hall

Science Ed Courses Taught

SCED 220: Theory and Practice in Science Education

SCED 173: Methods in Science Teaching

SCED 205: Methods of Research

Education

Ph.D. University of Northern Colorado, Chemical Education, 2005. 
M.S. University of Northern Colorado, Chemistry, 2004.
M.A. University of Northern Iowa, Science Education, 2000. 
B.A. University of Northern Iowa, Chemistry, 1992. 
B.A. University of Notre Dame, Psychology, 1990.

Select Publications in Science Education

Herrington, D.;Sweeder, R.;Daubenmire, P.; Bauer, C.; Bretz, S.; Bunce, D.; Carmel, J.; Cole, R.; DeKorver, B.; Kelly, R.; Lewis, S.; Hoyo, M.; Ryan, S.; Stains, M.; Towns, M.; Yezierski, E. (2019). Supporting the growth and impact of the chemistry-education-research community. Journal of Chemical Education. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00823.

Akaygun, S.; Adadan, E.; Kelly, R. (2018). Capturing preservice chemistry teachers’ visual representations of redox reactions through storyboards. Israel Journal of Chemistry.

Kelly, R. M. (2018). The Division of Chemical Education's International Activities Committee: Insights from Chairs - Past and Present. International Perspectives on Chemistry Education Research and Practice. Cox, C.; Schatzberg, W. Eds; American Chemcial Society: Washington, DC. bk-2018-00068x.R1.

Kelly, R. M.; Akaygun, S.; Hansen, S. J. R.; Villalta-Cerdas, A. (2017). The effect that comparing molecular animations of varying accuracy has on students' submicroscopic explanations. Chemical Education Research and Practice. DOI: 10.1039/C6RP00240D.

Kelly, R. M. (2017). Learning from contrasting molecular animations with a metacognitive monitoring activity. Educación Química. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.eq.2017.02.003

Kelly, R. M.; Hansen, S. J. R. (2017). Exploring the design and use of molecular animations that conflict for understanding chemical reactions. Química Nova.http://dx.doi.org/10.21577/0100-4042.20170043

Kelly, R. M.; Akaygun, S.(2016). Insights into how students learn the difference between a weak acid and a strong acid from cartoon tutorials employing visualizations. Journal of Chemical Education. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00034.

Current Graduate Students:

George Kerber - Exploring the perspectives and experiences of faculty members engaged in the development of a freshman chemistry research program.

Vandhana Lal - Analyzing how atomic level visualizations affect college students' understanding of redox reactions.