Browsing by Subject "Chemistry--Study and teaching (Higher)"
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Item Achievement through small-group discussion sessions in large general chemistry lecture classes with the aid of undergraduate peer teaching assistants(2002) Lyon, Donna Carolyn; Lagowski, J. J.This research in chemistry education was a scholarly investigation focused on the important factors associated with enhancing the abilities of students to perceive the principles and concepts of general chemistry. Through a sequence of three studies, the existing learning theories and methodologies were adapted to a new learning model for small group structuring. In this effort, undergraduate peer teachers (pTAs) were employed as facilitators of multiple small-groups of general chemistry students during weekly discussion sessions. The results from the studies indicated that the small-group discussion sessions for general chemistry classes of more that 400 students were beneficial in respect to achievement. In addition, the third study examined the effectiveness of trained pTA facilitators (no student interaction by pTAs) versus pTA tutors (minimal student interaction by pTAs) as supervisors of small-group discussion for the ultimate goal of constructing a learning model which benefits undergraduate students’ achievement, motivation, and engagement during the first semester of general chemistry in a large lecture environment.Item Assisting students for lecture preparation: a web-based approach(2005) Herrick, Brad Jay; Lagowski, J. J.Students continue to arrive at universities with poor study and time management skills: they are not proactive in their studies while professors are not willing to hold them accountable for their shortcomings. The result is a ‘dumbing down’ of the course. This can be defeated by student preparation prior to attending lecture, especially in very largelecture classrooms (N>400). In fact, it provides a process to ‘dumb up’ the course. A Web-based system for providing content specific lecture preparations (termed ‘Previews’) was developed and tested in three courses in a large southwestern research institution. Significance was found in final course achievement by treatment levels, including variations by the total number of participations in the lecture preparations. Method of implementation and results are discussed, including future considerations.Item Effects of using presentation formats that accommodate the learner's multiple intelligences on the learning of freshman college chemistry concepts(2004-12) Brown Wright, Gloria Aileen; Lagowski, J. J.Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences identifies linguistic, spatial and logical-mathematical intelligences as necessary for learning in the physical sciences. He has identified nine intelligences which all persons possess to varying degrees, and says that learning is most effective when learners receive information in formats that correspond to their intelligence strengths. This research investigated the importance of the multiple intelligences of students in first-year college chemistry to the learning of chemistry concepts. At three pre-selected intervals during the first-semester course each participant received a tutorial on a chemistry topic, each time in a format corresponding to a different one of the three intelligences, just before the concept was introduced by the class lecturer. At the end of the experiment all subjects had experienced each of the three topics once and each format once, after which they were administered a validated instrument to measure their relative strengths in these three intelligences. The difference between a pre- and post-tutorial quiz administered on each occasion was used as a measure of learning. Most subjects were found to have similar strengths in the three intelligences and to benefit from the tutorials regardless of format. Where a difference in the extent of benefit occurred the difference was related to the chemistry concept. Data which indicate that students' preferences support these findings are also included and recommendations for extending this research to other intelligences are made.Item Investigation of feedback on student performance(2005) Walker, Deborah Rush; Lagowski, J. J.