Another Option for Chemistry Dropouts Donald Glover, Doris Kolb, and Max Taylor Bradley University, Peoria, IL 61625 General chemistry has never had the reputation of being a "snap" course. Many students consider it to be the most difficult course a freshman can take, a n opinion that seems to be supported by the grade distributions and the number of withdrawals. Like many others, we have long been concerned about the high percent of students in our general chemistry course who receive grades of D or F, or who simply withdraw. In 1970, for example, the percent of these unsuccessful students was a typical 36%. Twenty years ago we could only suggest to those unfortunate students that they try again next year. Today we have a better alternative: allow students to drop to a lower-level course four weeks after the semester has started (after the first examination has been returned). This has increased significantly the number of students who successfully (a grade of C or better) complete the first semester. Overview Bradley University is a private coeducational school in Peoria, IL. I t is a comprehensive medium-sized universitv with ahout 5200 undekaduatc students and d00graduaL"c students from 40 statcs and 31 countries. The mean ACT mathematics scores for students taking our general chemistry course in recent years has averaged 26.5, with the verbal score means averaging 23.4. Two first-year chemistry courses are offered a t Bradley: general chemistry and fundamentals of general chemistry. The general chemistry course is required for chemistry, biology, physical therapy, and preprofessional majors, as well as engineering students. The fundamentals course covers much of the same material but with less rigor. It is required for nursing and allied health majors, and can be a science elective for nonscience majors. Success of Students in General Chemistry In Table 1 our average grade distribution in general chemistry for 1987,1988, and 1989 is compared with that in 1970.At first it might that the number of unsuc.. appear .. cessful students is actually increasing. But look again. The pcrccnt of 1) grades has been cut dmost in hall: and thc number of F grades has almost been eliminated. The large increase is in the percent of withdrawals. However, many of these withdrawals are actually transfers to our lowerlevel fundamentals course. Table 1. General Chemistry Grade Distribution Grade
762
1970
Journal of Chemical Education
1987-1989 (avg)
Table 2. Grade Distribution of 102 Students Who Transferred to the Fundamentals Course Grade
Number
A
7 42 41 6 0 6
B
C
D F W
Percent 6.9% 41.2% 40.2% 5.9% 0.0% 5.9%
That big increase in withdrawals is due to two factors. The University drop date has been significantly changed, so that students can now drop a course as late as 12 weeks into the semester, whereas they had to withdraw by the fourth week back in 1970. (That explains the great reduction in F grades.) Also, for the past six years we have been allowing students who are not doing well in general chemistry to transfer to our fundamentals course as late as four weeks into the semester. This is two weeks later than the official deadline for students to add new courses. Of the total of 806 students who enrolled in 1987,1988, and 1989 in our general chemistry course, 236 (29%)withdrew from the course, but 102 of those simply transferred to our slower-paced fundamentals course. Should we consider the students who transfer to the lower-levelcourse as successes or failures? Success of Students Who Transfer We measure the success of the students who transfer to our fundamentals of chemistry course by noting how many of them complete the fundamentals course successfully, as well as by seeing how well they do in the general chemistry course when they try the course the second time. It is encouraging to find that nearly all of the students who transferred to the fundamentals course completed it successfully (a grade of C or better). Only six of the 102 students withdrew from the course, and another six received a grade of D. Seven students received A, 42 received B, and 41 received C (see Table 2). None of the students received a grade of F. Since most of these students had failed the first general chemistry examination, it is not likely that they would have been successful a t all had they not made the transfer. Some of the students who transfer to our fundamentals course do not need to take general chemistry. Inmany cases students decide to change majors during their freshman year, and their new degree requirements may not include chemistry. At least they earn a n acceptable grade in a laboratory science instead of ending up with a D or F in general chemistry, or having to withdraw from the course. Of the 65 students who transferred in the Fall 1990, 53 (82%) stated on their evaluation forms that they were pleased that they had made the transfer. Only one student felt he should not have transferred.
Success of Students Who Retake General Chemistry
Since nearly all of the students who enroll in our general chemistw wurse do so because it is required by their major, those students who do not change majors must re-enroll in general chemistry. A few take the wurse over the threeweek January interim, but most take it during the spring semester. It is important that these students be prepared for general chemistry the second time around. We followed the progress of these students to see if the fundamentals course had indeed provided them with the background necessary to do well in general chemistry. Nearly half (46%)of the 102 students who transferred to the fundamentals course did em11 again in general chemistry. Of these 47 students, 41 (87%) were successful the second time. (Two received D, one received F, and there were three withdrawals.) We are convinced that the Fundamentals course does provide the background that many of our freshman need to succeed in general chemistry.
0.82 for the ACT mathematics scores and 0.67 for the verbal scores. We are now developing a pretest to be used with the ACT math score to provide a better means for predicting the success of our students. Meanwhile, we find that allowing students to transfer to another course after failing the first examination in general chemistry serves as a safety net. It provides them with anothe~chance in a lower-level course in which they have a much better prospect of doing well. Furthermore, it prepares them to be successful in general chemistry when they enroll a second time. This approach does require available space in the lower-level course and some adjustments so these students can begin a new class that is already four weeks into the semester. Also, the Department must have the cooperation of the Dean and the Registrar to ignore the rules in this special case. It takes a hit of doing, hut the number of struggling stragglers we have saved by this method has made the effortworthwhile.
The Right Course for the Right Student
Many have tried to find suitable placement criteria for getting students into the proper wurse before the semester begins.14 We have considered American College Testing (ACT) Program scores as grade predictors for success in General Chemistw and found correlation wefficients of
'Pickering. M. J. Chem. Educ. 1975,52,512-514. 20zxogomonyan,A,; Loftus, D. J. Chem. Educ. 1979,56,173-175. 3Andrews,M . H.; Andrews, L. J. Chem. Educ. 1979,56,231-232. 4Nordstrom,B. N.; Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, personal communication,1991.
Volume 68 Number 9 September 1991
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