Shifting Responsibilities: When Chemistry Replaces First-Year Writing

化学（12）。 来自化学和英语系的教师正在合作创建一个写作密集型的第二学期介绍性化学课程，该课程也满足了第二学期的大学写作要求。新的课程内容和作业与现有的两门课程相当，采用了“通过写作学习”的策略。根据设计的题目，正在编写和评估由正式实验室报告和基于案例的研究论文组成的分级写作作业。学生们正在通过教师和同行作家审查的草稿和修改来提高他们的写作水平。学生们在实验室里记笔记，写简短的、不分年级的化学概念作业，让他们参与探索性写作。 PI和独立顾问正在评估这门课程的有效性，以提高学生对化学原理的理解，写作技巧和学习态度，通过比较考试成绩，写作作业成绩，调查结果，以及完成这门课程的学生与完成传统化学入门和大学写作课程的类似人口统计学的学生的长期表现。该项目有可能成为在其他学院和大学以及其他学科内实施和评价此类课程的模式。

Chemistry (12). Faculty from the Departments of Chemistry and English are collaborating to create a writing-intensive, second-semester, introductory Chemistry course, which also fulfills second-semester College Writing requirements. The new course content and assignments are the equivalent of both existing courses, employing a "writing to learn" strategy. Graded writing assignments consisting of formal laboratory reports and a case-based research paper are being prepared and assessed according to designed rubrics. Students are improving their writing through drafts and revisions reviewed by instructors and peer writers. Students are keeping notebooks in the laboratory and writing short, non-graded assignments on chemical concepts to engage them in exploratory writing. PIs and independent consultants are evaluating the effectiveness of this course for improving student understanding of chemical principles, writing skills, and attitudes towards learning by comparing examination scores, writing assignment grades, survey results, and long-term performance of students who complete this course with those of similar demographics who complete the conventional introductory chemistry and college writing courses. The project has the potential for serving as a model for implementing and evaluating such courses at other colleges and universities and within other disciplines.