Michigan State University Lappan-Phillips Endowed Professor Melanie Cooper has been elected to the National Academy of Education (NAEd). The prestigious honor recognizes top scholars who have improved the effectiveness of education policies and practices. Only 14 scholars nationwide were given the distinction in 2024.
“This is a huge honor for me – I was just thrilled,” said Cooper, who was notified of the distinction by renowned scholar and NAEd Secretary-Treasurer James Spillane.
Cooper – a professor of Chemistry duly appointed to the College of Natural Science – will be recognized at the annual NAEd conference in Washington, D.C., in October 2024.
A trailblazer in chemistry education
Cooper’s research focuses on enhancing teaching and learning within large-enrollment general and organic chemistry courses through evidence-based curriculum reform. Since arriving on campus in 2013, her research has changed the narrative for first-year students interested in STEM careers struggling to pass general chemistry.
“Historically, general chemistry has been a gatekeeper course instead of a gateway,” she said. “By removing extraneous material and reconstructing the curriculum, we emphasized the use of knowledge instead of memorization.”
With funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Cooper developed a new curriculum: Chemistry, Life the Universe and Everything (CLUE) with University of Colorado Boulder Professor Mike Klymkowsky.
CLUE breaks down learning into steps, focusing on four main topics:
- how things are built and what they’re made of,
- how things stick together,
- how energy works and
- how things change or stay the same.
The results have transformed student success for MSU science, technology, engineering and math majors. Since replacing the traditional general chemistry course with CLUE in 2015, Spartans are passing the course at a 20% higher rate – about 700 students per academic year. When examining specific skills, such as understanding intermolecular forces or predicting structure-property relationships, students taught through CLUE significantly outperform their counterparts from traditional classes.
Cooper and Klymkowsky made the curriculum free for other institutions to implement – and many have. To date, approximately 20 schools, including the University of Minnesota and Florida International, have onboarded CLUE, according to Cooper.
“My research is why I received this award, but the products of the research, which is the curriculum and the assessment materials, is what I’m most proud of,” said Cooper. “It’s had such a big impact on students.”
Throughout her tenure at MSU, she has secured more than $10 million in grant funding and has generated research widely cited by her peers.
“Cooper’s visionary work has been nothing short of revolutionary in the field of chemistry education, transforming what was once considered a barrier into a bridge for our students,” said Jerlando F. L. Jackson, College of Education Dean and MSU Research Foundation Professor.
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