Shifting Responsibilities: When Chemistry Replaces First-Year Writing

化学(12)。化学系和英语系的教师正在合作开设一门第二学期的写作密集型导论化学课程，这门课程也符合第二学期的大学写作要求。新的课程内容和作业等同于现有的两门课程，采用了“以写促学”的策略。正在编写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，并根据设计的标准对其进行评估。学生通过教师和同行作家审阅的草稿和修改来提高他们的写作水平。学生们把笔记本放在实验室里，并写下关于化学概念的短的、未评分的作业，以便让他们参与探索性写作。PIS和独立顾问正在评估这门课程在提高学生对化学原理的理解、写作技能和学习态度方面的有效性，方法是将完成这门课程的学生的考试成绩、写作作业成绩、调查结果和长期表现与完成传统化学入门课程和大学写作课程的类似人口统计学学生的成绩进行比较。该项目有可能成为在其他学院和大学以及在其他学科内实施和评估此类课程的典范。

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.