Sustainable Reform for General Chemistry: Phased Implementation of Lecture-Based Reforms and Peer-Led Guided Inquiry

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Chemistry (12) The goal of our project is to revamp General Chemistry I course at the University of South Florida through the phased implementation and evaluation of a set of curricular reforms. To achieve our goal, we are adapting ConceptTests championed by the NSF-funded systemic efforts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison during lectures, peer-led guided inquiry session in place of one lecture each week, and Web-assisted homework to improve student problem solving skills. The project impacts nearly 1100 students per year who take General Chemistry I at USF. Chemistry learning achievements for the students in this reformed General Chemistry I curriculum are being measured by administering the ACS general chemistry concept exam at the end of the semester and grades in General Chemistry II. We are also collecting additional data regarding the reforms and chemistry itself via the web-administered Student Assessment of Learning Gains (SALG) Instrument. The evaluation results are provided to the instructors each year in order for them to assess their own efforts in implementing the reforms and decide whether to continue with the reforms both during and after the project. Further, we plan to disseminate the results of our project broadly via publications and presentations to the national community interested in effective science education reform. On the basis of a departmentally funded Fall 2002 pilot project, we expect both partially and fully reformed curricula to improve overall performance and attitudes in general chemistry. In addition, we expect this project to provide necessary data for evaluating the effectiveness of lecture-based reforms (ConceptTests, web-assisted homework) as opposed to reforms based on small group learning (peer-led guided inquiry). By design, all phases of the reform are maintained during the project to ensure the effective evaluation of both types of reforms.