Packing Slip 
item |
PBL in Chemistry (1999-2000 MIL Fellowship) |
contact |
Rosemary Leary (Estrella Mountain Community College) rosemary.leary@emcmail.maricopa.edu |
college(s) |
Estrella Mountain Community College |
discipline(s) |
Chemistry |
summary |
My 1999-2000 MIl fellowship project consisted of the development, implementation, and evaluation of a cooperative group, learner centered, context-based series of chemistry laboratory inquiries for the beginning chemistry student. |
details |
The laboratory investigations consisted of learner directed projects with several of these projects spanning an interval of two weeks. The projects were designed to augment students' group learning skills, to enhance their problem solving ability, and to help develop their oral and written communication skills. It was hoped that the projects would show links between school chemistry and students' real lives and that they would enhance students' attitudes toward chemistry. In the projects students are asked to pose answerable questions, design and implement suitable procedures to use for their investigations, collect and analyze data, to reach some type of conclusion, and to share their understandings with their peers. In order to help document and clarify what was learned from this project some data were collected. These data include anecdotal comments from students, pre and post attitudinal inventories, pre and post self-confidence inventories, and a checklist of chemistry process skills acquired. I have also attempted to document what I learned during the process and have tried to offer explanations for any changes made or recommended for the future. f e l l o w s rosemary leary's final report Maricopa Institute for Learning Fellowship 1999-2000 End-of-Term Report Rosemary Leary, Ph.D. EMCC Chemistry Faculty Project Description Simply put - this project sprung from my discontent with the lack of congruence between "school science" and "real science" and focuses on whether or not this lack of congruence could be, or even should be, addressed in the setting of the traditional non-majors introductory chemistry laboratory. Traditionally, students in science laboratory classes are provided with all materials and solutions pre-prepared and with a set of detailed procedures to follow. The student diligently follows the instructions, records the data as directed, performs the relevant calculations and fills in all of the appropriate blanks. The instructor then matches the student responses with the "correct" ones and assigns a grade accordingly. In many ways this type of experience has earned its reputation as "cookbook chemistry." In contrast "real science" is much messier and focuses as much on process (and often more so) as it focuses on acquiring information. It was my hope in framing this project that I could take my years of doing chemistry and of teaching chemistry and design a laboratory-learning environment for my students that would link chemistry knowledge with chemistry process skills. It was also my intent to design this learning experience on a foundation of sound pedagogy and the latest understandings from cognitive psychology. The project was also founded on the research and analyses acquired by multiple science education organizations (National Research Council, National Science teachers Association, Project 2061) that recognize the need for open inquiry experiences grounded in cooperative learning environments for all science students. Specifically, the project consisted of the development, implementation, and evaluation of a cooperative group, learner centered, context-based series of chemistry laboratory inquiries for the beginning chemistry student. The laboratory investigations consisted of learner directed projects with several of these projects spanning an interval of two weeks. The projects were designed to augment students' group learning skills, to enhance their problem solving ability, and to help develop their oral and written communication skills. It was hoped that the projects would show links between school chemistry and students' real lives and that they would enhance students' attitudes toward chemistry. In the projects students are asked to pose answerable questions, design and implement suitable procedures to use for their investigations, collect and analyze data, to reach some type of conclusion, and to share their understandings with their peers. In order to help document and clarify what was learned from this project some data were collected. These data include anecdotal comments from students, pre and post attitudinal inventories, pre and post self-confidence inventories, and a checklist of chemistry process skills acquired. I have also attempted to document what I learned during the process and have tried to offer explanations for any changes made or recommended for the future. My personal goal at the beginning of this project was to determine the feasibility of introducing open-ended chemistry inquiry labs into the introductory (CHM130LL) laboratory environment. My project goal was to develop, implement, and evaluate materials designed on sound pedagogy and cognitive psychology. It was my hope that these materials would help me determine the feasibility of this approach with this group of students. Note! As a professional courtesy to the owner of this package, if you use some aspect of this package or have some thoughts about it, please share your feedback via the comments form below. |
web links |
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/mil/fellows1999/leary_proj.html http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/mil/fellows1999/leary_rpt.html http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/pbl/ |
shareback |
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extra |
Last modified: May-09-2000 Date created: May-09-2000 Visitor count: 5072 Dublin Core Metadata record  This package is included in the Maricopa Institute for Learning Final Reports special collection. |
Maricopa Learning eXchange
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/mlx/slip.php?item=109
