Developing Pedagogies of Engagement in Foundation Chemistry Courses: Enhancing Minority Retention in STEM Majors

化学系鼓励学生更多地参与课程内容，以系统和多课程的方式，在普通化学讨论部分和有机化学实验室部分使用新颖的案例研究。该项目正在实施基于问题的案例研究，重点关注大量一年级和二年级学生参加的基础课程中化学的跨学科方面。这使学生能够在传统内容和与公民相关的主题之间建立联系，这些主题与当前学生的兴趣非常匹配。该项目侧重于与环境科学、生物医学科学和工程学的联系，并正在确定这种方法如何提高学生在追求STEM学位时的保留率。案例讨论的引入改变了针对性化学课程的学习环境；与项目开始前相比，学生们的学习体验更加积极主动，更具协作性。此外，案例研究的加入促进了学生更高层次的批判性思维技能的发展。该项目正在开发教学助理的专业知识，以引导开放式案例研究讨论，并正在评估这种教育经验对助教表现和预期未来使用的影响。该项目展示了如何调整现有的课程，即使是大量注册的基础化学课程也可以让所有学生参与到一个积极和协作的环境中，以培养学生所需的技能。同时，该项目通过将学生与当前公民相关的现实世界问题联系起来，通过直接面对当前课程中普遍存在的不足，提高了学生的成功率。

The Chemistry Department is encouraging more engagement of students with course content by incorporating, in a systematic and multi-course fashion, the use of novel case studies in General Chemistry discussion sections and in Organic Chemistry Laboratory sections. The project is implementing problem-based case studies that focus on the interdisciplinary aspect of chemistry in these foundational courses taken by large numbers of first- and second-year students. This allows the students to make connections between traditional content and topics of civic relevance that are well-matched to current students interests. The project is focusing on connections to environmental science, biomedical science, and engineering and is establishing how this approach leads to increased retention of students in their pursuit of STEM degrees.The introduction of case study discussions is changing the learning environment for the targeted chemistry courses; students are engaged in a more active and collaborative learning experience from that which existed prior to the start of this project. In addition, the inclusion of case studies is furthering students' development of higher order critical thinking skills. The project is developing Teaching Assistant expertise to lead open-ended case study discussions and is assessing the impact of this educational experience on TA performance and expected future use.The project is demonstrating how existing courses can be tweaked such that even large enrollment foundational chemistry courses can engage all students in an active and collaborative environment known to develop desired student skills. Simultaneously, the project, by connecting students to real world issues of current civic relevance, is increasing the success rate of students by directly confronting a commonly perceived deficiency in current course offerings.