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第二学期的写作密集型化学入门课程，该课程也满足第二学期的大学写作要求。新的课程内容和作业与现有课程相同，采用了“写作学习”的策略。由正式的实验室报告和基于案例的研究论文组成的分级写作作业正在准备中，并根据设计的标准进行评估。学生们通过导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，写一些简短的、不记分的化学概念作业，以进行探索性写作。pi和独立顾问通过比较完成本课程的学生与完成传统化学入门和大学写作课程的学生的考试分数、写作作业分数、调查结果和长期表现，评估本课程在提高学生对化学原理的理解、写作技巧和学习态度方面的有效性。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.