Chemical Literacy Level of Engineering Students, Faculty Engineering, North Eastern University

Abstract

The purpose of this research was two-fold. Firstly, to determine the level of chemical literacy of  Engineering undergraduate students from the Engineering faculty at North Eastern University. Secondly, to investigate the contribution of sex, age and level of study to the chemical literacy level of the student. The samples were 100undergraduate students studying chemistry. They enrolled in the 1st semester of the academic year 2015. The instruments were Chemical Literacy Test (CLT) and semi-structured interview. The CLT consisted of three assessment formats: 1) Multiple-choice CLT,2) Written CLT, and 3) Test of Chemistry Related Attitudes. The results: Firstly, the holistic CLT responses of engineering students showed that mean of percentage scores was 40.73 andengineering students’ level of chemical literacy wascategorized as the “Low level” of chemical literacy. Secondary, the contributions of sex, age,and level of study to level of chemical literacy. There were no statistically significant differences in the level of chemical literacy based on sex (p>0.05). However, there were statistically significant differences in the level of chemical literacy based on age and level of study (p<0.05). The overall chemical literacy of engineering students was categorized as “Low level. Moreover, age and level of study had the effect to the differences on level of chemical literacy. Thus, it is an essential to determine for development teaching and learning process in chemistry classroom to highest effectiveness.This will help the educational institutions to foster engineering students to achieve higher chemical literacy. Then they can use of chemicals with social and environmental responsibility