J. J. Zuckerman
SUNY-Albany Albany, New York 12222
An Experiment in the Use
of Texts in General Chemistry
At the State University of New York a t Albany an experiment is in progress whereby detailed grades are no longer kept by the Registrar for students in their first two years. The university-wide, mandatory S / U grading policy for all freshmen and sophomores is coupled with the privilege of withdrawal from any course to the last day of class without penalty. While nothing prevents a professor from operating a traditionally graded course, hut reporting "S" grades for all students who would receive a "C" or above, i t was apparent that university policy opened the possibility for a profound shift in emphasis in the teaching of the general chemistry course. Teachers of large freshman courses in chemistry have expressed themselves on the disproportionate amount of effort dissipated in attempting to compile a highly accurate grade for each student despite the relative unimportance of such grades in a transcript which includes upperclass work. Beyond warning students of unsatisfactory performance so that study schedules could be readjusted or career plans reevaluated, if necessary, there seemed little reason to continue to operate for its own sake the cumbersome and time-consuming apparatus of compiling a grade with three or four significant figure accuracy. It appeared instead that if the skills required for satisfactory performance were clearly defined, and if students falling below this minimum could be effectively counseled, then there seemed no reason why all the students registered a t the end of the course could not meet a t least the minimum standard for satisfactory performance in chemistry. The experiment within an experiment was conducted in a course with a fall enrollment of -400 students which the undergraduate bulletin lists as consisting of two lectures, one recitation, and one 3-hr laboratory per week for four credit hours. I n the absence of a university distribution requirement we find that virtually all of our clientele is professionally oriented, or is testing their aptitude for science or medicine. The course includes the followingfeatures. Students choose from among three textbooks stocked by the bookstore: BRESCIA,ARENTS,MEISLICHAND TURK, (Academic Press, $12.50) [BAMT], DICKERSON, GRAYAND HAIGHT(W. A. Benjamin, $12.95) [DGH], and SIENKOAND PLANE(McGraw-Hill, $9.95) [SP]. Over a dozen desk copies of each were placed on reserve a t the library to facilitate making the choice. The course schedule and problem assignments are keyed to each of the three texts. Worked solutions to the assigned problems from each text are posted in the chemistry building and placed on reserve a t the library after they are turned in a t recitation, along with lecture notes (coin-operated copiers are close a t hand).
The minimum standard is loosely defined in a brief handout outline naming some definitions, equations, operations, abilities, etc., said to constitute a minimum professional standard a t the freshman level. Three ll/,hr examinations of the fill-in type with questions labeled as to chemical topic and structured into four categories by level of difficulty from ''Minimum Acceptable" to "Superior" are given in the evenings. Each student receives a copy of the examination with suitably correct answers filled in as he leaves the examination room. The final examination is of the same type. The papers are kept on file for use in student counseling, but are not returned. It is said that all experiments conducted with human beings work, and the students in Chemistry 121 responded enthusiastically to the experiment we and they are conducting. It comes as some surprise that the nongraded exams in the non-graded course should arouse just as much concern among the students who pack the pre-exam "review" sessions and ask detailed questions about what they are being held responsible for. Preparing and collating over 400 stapled examination booklets containing some 30 questions and then repeating the process for the answers, each often running to ten 14in. pages requires a willing secretarial pool. I had a recurring nightmare of the completed exams being given out first until my secretary switched to colored paper for the answers. Exam questions are drawn from lecture material which does not follow any of the three texts exactly, either in order of presentation or in content, and from topics in each of the three texts, which with few exceptions cover the same body of core material. The student can do with the examination instrument what he wants in order to demonstrate his competence. As the great Prince Orlovsky was fond of saying: "Chacun d son goat!" He can skip freely from INinimum to Superior. If he completes the more difficult questions, we assume he can work the easier ones in the same area. Each 11/,-hr exam as it turned out covered 3-4 topics so that there was always a choice. The student was encouraged to show both depth and breadth in choosing questions to answer. Each of our three texts, we felt, gave sufficient preparation to do superior work on the exams, hut the students disagree (vide infra). During the course of the semester students generally gravitated to their own level, some attempting questions from the Superior set first, others confining themselves almost entirely to the Minimum. Difficulties arose in delivery of SP and DGH to the bookstore, somewhat skewing the results. New hook sales which were completed within two weeks were SP (186,41qb) BAMT (165,37%) DGH (99,22%), while reported use by the time of the third exam was SP (48%) BAMT (32%) DGH (20%). Volume 49, Number 5, May 1972
/
331
Because SP had been used for the same course in previous years, a large supply of used copies was available on the campus. I n addition the dormitory suite arrangement allowed "suite-mates" to share texts. Over half the students had access to a second text from which they could draw comparisons. More new books were sold than the highest total class enrollment. Student Comments
Comments on the relative merits of the three texts began to be expressed in the students' characteristically vivid language early in the semester. A short check-off survey atop the third hour exam netted 354 replies. A longer take-home survey given out at the last lecture had 255 respondents with almost all returned before the final exam. It became apparent that the marginal students had chosen the thinnest, cheapest text (SP), and that choosing BAMT was considered ambitious. BAIIT, ulth
