Development and Field Assessment of Web-Based Activities for General Chemistry

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Chemistry (12) Traditional teaching methods and instructional software products that focus on presentation and evaluation often fail to help students develop important cognitive and interpersonal skills in the areas of critical thinking, problem solving, communication, teamwork, management, and assessment. To address this situation, this project is implementing a research-based design to produce 60 innovative web-based activities spanning two semesters of General Chemistry. This design is premised on a cognitive model that most students learn chemistry best by constructing their own understanding using a learning cycle consisting of exploration, concept formation, application, and assessment. The activities are being field tested in diverse learning environments and revised accordingly. Teaching methods for the effective use of these activities are also being developed and disseminated through workshops for faculty and graduate teaching assistants. The activities are being distributed through publishers and digital repositories in four formats: within the previously developed LUCID Learning and Assessment System, for use in course management and e-learning systems, for independent web posting, and as text-based materials.