Seymour D. Ukeles Bronx Community College of C.U.N.Y. New York 10453
The Tutorial Laboratory in an Urban Community College
Attemnts at ~rovidineadditional instructional assistance to the student butside of the framework of the traditional classroom settine have been ~reviouslydescribed in this Journal.' The need for such auxiliar;learning aids have been met throueh the use of audio-visual tutorial modules, computer assistkd instruction, Resource Rooms, and proerammed materials. We would like to describe an approach which incorporates some of the above techniques but which also provides answers to some of the inherent prohlems in dealing with large numbers of underprepared chemistry students. The Chemistry Department at our college sponsors a Chemistry Tutorial Laboratory which functions with the purpose of providing tutoring by qualified student tutors or, where needed, by a faculty memher, who is always in attendance. The reason for the use of student tutors (either undergraduates in our two year college, or a four-year school, or graduate students) is that the peer interaction is often found to he most beneficial to the learning process. Students who would hesitate t o seek assistance from a faculty memher during scheduled office hours will come, without anv "nroddine. . ". to the Tutorial Lahoratory to receive instruction in a less formalized atmosphere.-~venwhen it comes to workine with the faculty memher in attendance, it has been found chat a student's desire for anonymity is satisfied through this means. There is no fear of the student's regular instructor ascertaining that this particular student is in need of help. The students, who come for tutorial assistance, are either enrolled in our remedial chemistry course or in any of the college level courses offered in a variety of curricula. The Tutorial Lab, currently in its third year of existence, serves both as a place where the initial learning process occurs and where reinforcement of concepts and skills previously acquired, takes place. Mandatory attendance in the Lab has been established for those students who continue to perform poorly in the remedial course. This compulsory attendance requirement is presently being tested on an experimental basis. The Tutorial Lab has two rooms a t its disposal. The first is a well-lit lab (possibilities for small scale experiments exist) which is equipped with blackboards and several useful wall charts. I t has also been found that wall posters with catchy phrases enhance the informal atmosphere. The second smaller room contains desks as well as areas set aside for the use of slide projectors, tape recorders, etc. The Lab also has the texts used in the various courses, programmed instruction hooks (both in English and Spanish in certain instances), various handbooks, and models. The Lab is open from 30-32 hours a week and is always staffed by a faculty member and has 3-6 tutors per hour (depending upon the time of day). The hours served by faculty members are part of their class load. The tutors are paid from monies allocated through a college-wide Remediation Budget or else they are hired under a college workstudy program. Some of the tutors are enrolled in upper level courses a t the college. I t is these students who are in-
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Gardner, Marjorie, 3. CHEM EDUC. 47,821 (1970); Young, J. A,, and Langford, C. H., J. CHEM. EDUC., 48,795 (1971); Kotnik, Louis J., J. CHEM EDUC., 51, 165 (1974). 248 / Journal of Chemical Education
direct beneficiaries of the tutorial process as they find that their understanding of the subject matter is enhanced as they teach others. In any event, these in-college tutors are often found to he more understanding and effective with tutees than outside persons, as they themselves have taken the same courses with the same instructors. Part of the purpose for the faculty member's presence is to serve as a resource person and to assist the tutors with any prohlems of interpretation or fact. The tutor is instructed not to serve as a "homework doer" hut rather to teach and reinforce by the use of examples. As we have indicated, the majority of the.students have come to the Lab on a purely voluntary hasis. Attendance figures showed that in the Fall 1974 semester, 30% of all students registered in the departmental courses attended the Lahoratory a t least one time during the semester. Many made visits to the Lahoratory on a regular basis. One means of evaluation used by the Department has been to gather final grades and correlate these with attendance versus non-attendance. Admittedly, this is a crude model for evaluating effectiveness and efforts are being made to find a more meaningful way of checking how successful is the intervention by the tutoring technique. As a numher of faculty memhers share in the day to day workings of the Tutorial Lab, it has been necessary to define some of the duties that this position entails. Clearly, the nresence of this exnerienced instructor allows for student's to discuss a prohiem or concept and obtain additional insight into these. Certain students still prefer a studentprofessor interaction, even if outside of a structured classroom. So in this mode. the faculty serves as a tutor-in-chief. One of the important duties f; the faculty memher is to determine the entry behavior of the various students seeking help. I t has been found that one of the more effective methods is to present the student with a few informal questions that are formulated to elicit the areas where problems exist. The use of such a questioning technique will help to obviate the need to instruct the student in topics already mastered. For example, a student says that he has prohlems in halancing chemical equations. To pinpoint the exact area of difficulty, the faculty members gives the student an unhalanced equation and looks on as a solution is attempted. By observing the student in a matter-of-fact way, the instructor can determine if the student comprehends the meaning of a subscript, coefficient, element, compound, etc. When the faculty memher has discovered an area of weakness by this diagnobtic procedure, he may then resort to a number of ways (textbooks, tapes, slides, programmed materials, peer tutoring) to remove the deficiency. Student difficulties fall into two classes: conceptual and computational. In order to he successful in diagnosing these prohlems, it is of prime importance that the faculty memher he very familiar with course content and ohjectives of the various departmental offerings. Over the years, the author has attempted to gain experience in as many of these courses as possible. I t is strongly believed that being knowledgeable in various course strategies enables the faculty memher to he more efficient in ferreting out those areas requiring tutorial assistance. As indicated, the faculty memher may assign the student
t o a tutor. The choice of matching tutee to tutor is one that cannot he done in a totally random way. It is a procedure that depends on matching personalities of two interacting individuals. The assignment may be on a one to one hasis or in a group situation. Since we have a "Little Red Schoolhouse" situation (many courses being serviced in a small area), the faculty member must he constantly occupied in seeing that all parts are functioning properly. In certain peak usage times, heavy reliance is placed on members of the department for relieving the increased student demand. Most of our tutors are selected on the basis of grades in chemistry courses, specially prepared exams for tutors, faculty recommeridations, and enthusiasm for assisting others. The training is of the on-the-job type, with a faculty member present in the Lab providing guidance and advice to the tutors when needed. Very often, the new tutors will
he helped by the more experienced ones. Such a situation helps to build good rapport between tutors, and indirectly benefits tutees. In effect, it seems that the most effective tutors are those who combine a knowledge of the subject matter along with an ability to relate to the tutee. The response to the Tutorial Lab concept has been very encouraging since its inception. Along with other non-traditional teaching modes, it has helped to provide to students (manv of whom nossess severe readine. -. mathematical, and co&eptual dificulties) an alternate means to overcomine nrohlem areas in their courses. With this additional possibility, the element of personal involvement becomes instrumental in h e l.~ i n estudents oroceed. even if a t a slower pace, where otherwise they might have given up in frustration. The key element is that the student must he sufficiently motivated to devote the extra effort necessary in attending the Lab.
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Volume 53, Number 4, April 1976 / 249
