edited bv ~~
SUSAN H. HIXSON National Science Foundation
Highlights
Washington. DC 20550
Georgia State University Atlanta. GA 30303
Projects supported b y the NSF Division of Undergraduate Education Cooperative Chemistry Laboratories Melanie M. Cooper Clemson University Clemson SC 29634
signed; therefore they see the need for, and uses of, these techniques. Most practitioners of woperative learning agree that the grade a student receives should reflect the individual effort and achievement of the students (2,3). Consequently, only 30% ofthe total laboratory grade is a group grade. The rest of the grade comes from individual written reports, peer evaluation, and evaluation of lab technique by the instructor. As a result, conscientious students will not feel that their grade is compromised by the make-up of the group, and the less enthusiastic student will not be as tempted to sit back and benefit from the work of his peers. With total enrollments of up to 2,000 students per semester. wneral chemistrv laboratories are usuallv. taught .. hy pnriiate tearhinfi assktants. Careful attention is given to the rrainina and dcvclopmcnt ofTA's since their role is quite different from that in a traditional lab. They assume the role of an advisor and coach rather than that of the teacher expert. The TA's attend a workshop on cooperative learning and then meet weekly to discuss the progress of the labs. Commonly, the TA's are uncomfortable with their new roles at first; however, with training they adjust as the semester progresses. In order to evaluate the success of our new labs we arbitrarily assigned half the students to cooperative labs and half to traditional labs. Surveys of the students indicate that those in the cooperative laboratory settings are more positive about the experience and believe they learn more. Student performance in the lecture part of the course was also monitored. Since all students take the same lecture exams, it was possible to see if any correlation existed between lecture performance and type of laboratory. Analysis of lecture erades bv " eender reveals that the female students in cooperative laboratories outperform their female Deers in the reeular laboratories bv 2 to as much as 10%.A similar correlation was not found for males. An analysis of drop rates also revealed a gender difference. Male students dropped the course a t a rate of 9% regardless of lab type. The drop rate for females was 13%for coop labs and 21% for regular labs. We are further investigating this apparent gender difference, since these results seem to indicate that cooperative learning may be a viable strategy for encouraging more female participation in chemistry.
Ideally the general chemistry laboratory should interest the students, leave them with a positive image of chemistry and science, and begin to teach the skills used by practicing scientists. Students learn such skills a s pmblemsolving, data evaluation and interpretation, experimental design and implementation, and critical thinking. Unfortunately, as the National Science Board ( I )reported, laboratory instruction "has deteriorated to the point where it is often uninspired, tedious and dull". I t is little wonder then that many students fmd chemistry irrelevant and boring. We are developing a new laboratory format for general chemistry that exposes students to the process of scientific problem solving, emphasizes collaborative work, and requires the students to communicate their results both orally and in writing. During the first laboratory period students are assigned to groups of four. The groups are as heterogeneous as possible with regard to gender, race, and age. Short cooperative learning exercises to build group identity are performed the first period. Over the semester, the groups work on three multistep, open-ended projects rather than one-lab-period, closed exercises. In the f r s t project, for example, the students are told that they are research chemists working for the EPA. A compound has been found in a landfill, and the gmup assignment is to determine its properties, identify it, and devise and perform a synthesis. Each of the 5-6 groups in a lab section is given a different unknown compound. Since a plan of action specific to the compound must be developed not all groups perform the same activity at the same time, though they will have to make use of the same experimental techniques. Our students devise and control their own experiments with assistance from teaching assistants rather than blindly following instructions from a lab manual. For the synthesis they choose the reaction, calculate how much of each reactant is needed, and decide on reaction conditions. Besides the lab manual descriptions of laboratory techniques, instrument operation, and safety procedures, the Acknowledgement students also have access to a computer program, SuperThe author would like to acknowledee the followine ChemLab, designed for our laboratories. This multimedia, funding agencies for support of this proj& Thc ~ n t i o n a l HyperCard-based program contains audio, video and text Science Foundation, Award #DUE 9155954 and the Fund clips illustrating laboratory techniques and their uses. If for the Improvement of Post Sewndary Education, Award the students need to learn how to perform a titration, for # P116B200009-92A example, they can access the video and text by choosing titration from the index. Because beginning students may Literature Cited not know if or when to perform a titration, the program 1. National Snenee Board. Undergrndaot~Sciencp,Molh~moticsondEwimeri"gEdualso will pose a series of questions whose answers will lead c a t b x U S . Government Printing ORlce: Washington. DC,1986. 2. Johnsrm. D. W.; Johnaon, R. T hrvnlng Together end Alone; Coopemtiw, competithe students to conclude that a titration would vield useful hue, and Indiuidualistir homing: Holt, Reinhardt and Winston: New York, 1981. information. In thc new labs, ytudcnts lcarn ~ ~ ~ e r i r n c n ~ n3.l Cooper, J.;Presmtt. S.:Cmk. L.: Smith. L. CmpemiivaIaarning ondColkgeInstrucfion;California State Uniwrsiv Founddim Long Beach, CA, 1990. terhniques in the context of the experiment they have de-
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Volume 71
Number 4 April 1994
307
