R. R. Martin
and 1.R. Carlton The University ot Western Ontario London. Ontario, Canada N6A 587
II
P.S.I. Students in the Second Year A ~o//ow-UP study
Personalized systems of instruction (P.S.I.), based on the Keller plan, a r e now widely used (1. 2) A P.S.I. system has been introdnced a t t h e University of Western Ontario f.?4). T h e system now in use has functioned since 1974 and allows students registered in t h e first year chemistry course t o opt for either t h e P.S.I. or t h e traditional lecture system. This study was condncted in order t o compare t h e scholastic performance of students enrolled in t h e second year chemistry program who had elected t o study via the P.S.1. system in first year with student,^ who had not made this choice. Results and Discussion T h e first year class from which this sample was drawn, consisted of 784 students, 157 of whom initially elected t h e P.S.I. method. During the course of t h e year 68 students withdrew from P.S.T. and returned t o the regolar system. This pattern by which approximately 200h of t h e students elect. P.S.I. and approximately 10?6 complete i t has remained essentially invariant a t Western since 1974. Those students who enrolled in, h u t failed t o complete. the P.S.I. program are not considered in this study. (37) P.S.1. (741 Nun-PS.1 75.7 n = 7.5 74.4 n = fi.7 Second year final mark in Chemisty 252 April 1976 Final examination Chem. 79.9 n = 10.1 78.1 n = 9 3 020. April 1975 72.0 ri = 14.1 Chemistry Ass~ssm~nt test fiR.7 n = 14.6 Septembw 1975 1) Parmth~sesindicate the numher of sturl~ntsin parh cror~p. 2) Chemistry 252 is the second year chwnistry rn~trset a k ~ nhy 811 swond year chemistry students. The mark rrrord~dhprp il; thp final rxnmination mark. 3) Chemistry 020 is the first-year general che-mistry mum?. 4) The Chemistry Assessment test is a teat givm to th? s t u d ~ n t s during thpir first, week at Western. It is dtwrihrd elzewh~rr(4.
in firqt year with t h o w who had not done so. These results are tabulated ahnve. T h e firqt r e w l t clearly indicates t h a t there is no significant difference in ~ e r f o r m a n c ehetween t h e w two groups. At first glance this re-sult seems inconsistent with our own previous findings (3,fi). T h e second result is consistent with the first. ohservation and shows that there was no significant difference between the two a t the end of the first year. T h e third result. shnws no appreciable difference in ahility het,ween t h e two groups a t t h e heginning of their university t admincareer as meawred by t h e chemistry a s s ~ s s m e n test istered t o incomine students at Western. I n summary, it is found that examination of the marks o b ~ tained from these selected .. nrouns . reveals no sinnifirant differenre in grades ohtained at any level. It is accordingly possible t o draw the following tentative conclusions 1) The rhrmistry assessment tpst shows that. this group i- drnwn primarilv from the top 25% of stt~dentaentering thf first-year chemistry course. Tt ic unlikely that thr mode of pr~sentstionor n single cows? will subdmtidly altpr the performance of such s well-prpparrd group. 2) Smre thp ~tudentsenter in thp tap 25% of thp rlorr there is little upward mohility arnilahle to them. Significant diffewncer could only he-expprted if one arnrn~psuffewd from their trwtment. 3) Our own ms111ts hwe shown cnnsistmtly that, on the average, P.S.T. student- perfrrm bpttpr in first ymr than non-P.S.1, sludents. The rwtlts accordingly suggest that the treatment improver th? erades of students whnv rhpmiral harkarounds anold place them in the lower 75% nf t h class, ~ Othor i n f l n ~ n rmav ~ s hedrawn from thisdata hut it i i thevicivuf the nuthors that ihwp n w , in the main, highly spwulntive. Literature Cited
7).
T h e main concern of this paper is t o examine the results (as measured by performance on written exnminations) of s t a dents who chose t o enroll in second year chemistry and to compare those of students who had selected the P.S.T. system
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M s n i n . R. R..RliwsrtI. A C. H o r n p h i w i . D.A . nnd Sriknmrrrni.%n.K . 1. CREI1 KIIIIC.~ Z , S O R(197s). ,
Volume 55, Number 6, June 1978 / 365
