In the Classroom
Reminder Sheets for Chemistry Examinations Charles L. Perrin Department of Chemistry, University of California—San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0358 For several years I have permitted and encouraged students to use “Reminder Sheets” in examinations. My recent experience has been with introductory organic chemistry, but Reminder Sheets ought to be suitable for a wide variety of courses. At the beginning of the course students are informed, in writing, that they may bring one 22-cm × 28-cm Reminder Sheet to exams, with any information they want on the two sides. The information can be written, printed, or photocopied, but it must be readable without a magnifying lens. Students are further advised that as they read and study, they should plan, organize, and revise their Reminder Sheet carefully, so that it is useful for solving problems in the assigned homework and on exams. Since this is a new device for nearly all students, they are provided with further guidance well in advance of the first midterm examination. An example of such guidance is presented below. This covers only the first ten weeks’ material, and it is appropriate for the particular textbook of organic chemistry that we had adopted. Reminder Sheets have both a practical justification and a pedagogical one. The practical one is that proctors no longer need to devote attention to detecting “Cheat Sheets”, which would be a difficult task in my class of ca. 400 students. Students are told that bringing a Reminder Sheet to exams is not cheating, and the pedagogical reasons for permitting them are explained. The pedagogical justifications are several. The effort of planning a Reminder Sheet helps students to organize their knowledge. In deciding what is important, they develop an overview of the subject. In revising their Reminder Sheet
for each successive exam, they must recognize and remove what they have mastered, so as to make space for newer material. These advantages do not accrue with open-book exams, which may be more familiar to educators but where improved performance on exams is rarely seen (1), except perhaps for the weakest students (2). Nor do these benefits accrue with take-home exams, which afford better performance on questions testing factual knowledge but discourage advance preparation (3). However, it should also be realized that there is conflicting evidence as to whether student performance improves on exams where reminder sheets are used (4–6). The only firm conclusion is that students who conscientiously prepare reminder sheets perform better (4), but these may simply be more conscientious students. There is no cause for concern that Reminder Sheets relieve students of the responsibility for learning. If students have not learned the material, they are unlikely to learn it by perusing their Reminder Sheet during an exam. Indeed, many students seem reluctant to spend exam time on extensive consultation of their Reminder Sheet. However, this may be a consequence of the limited time available for my midterm exams. It would be preferable to permit more time for midterms, except that in as large a class as mine some students will have scheduling conflicts. Actually, students soon discover that the act of committing the information to paper ensures that they learn it, so that they have little need to consult the Reminder Sheet during an exam. However, it is always available for reassurance in case they forget, and they do appreciate that sense of security. Besides, the sheet serves as a “souvenir” of the course after they have survived it.
Suggestions for a Reminder Sheet (Example) Periodic Table (to Ca, + Br & I) Definitions and Concepts (bold face in your textbook) Nomenclature: functional groups, families, and endings (table in your textbook), alkane series, alkyl groups, primary/secondary/tertiary, cis/trans Symbolism: line-bond ("Kekulé") structures, lone pairs, condensed (CHn ) structures, skeletal (line-vertex) structures, δ+/δ-, electron pushing Drawings: dipole moment, wedge/dotted line, sawhorse representation, Newman projection, cyclohexane Equations: formal charge, hybridization = sp 3-N double-2N triple, K a and pK a, "degree of unsaturation" Rules: resonance, E / Z designation, R / S convention Examples: hybridization, kinds of organic reactions Graphs: energy vs. dihedral angle, energy vs. reaction coordinate Potential Confusions: hybrid orbital / resonance hybrid, resonance forms / isomers, isomers / constitutional isomers / stereoisomers, staggered / eclipsed, axial / equatorial, transition state / intermediate, conformation / configuration, chiral / achiral, enantiomers / diastereomers, SN1 / SN 2 / E1 / E2 Acids and bases: Brønsted and Lewis, strong and weak (pK a table in your textbook) Reactions, organized by functional group of reactant Reactions, organized by reagent Reactions, organized by functional group of product Mechanisms of reactions
Some of these will arise later; check the index of your textbook before you panic. Test your Reminder Sheet by seeing how well it enables you to do the assigned Problems.
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In the Classroom The quality of student Reminder Sheets is quite variable. Some students only photocopy a selection of the tables and chemical reactions from their textbook. Others photocopy the numerical data and also transcribe a few reactions. Many create a densely packed summary of much of the course, highly organized even to the extent of color-coding. A Reminder Sheet is consistent with what we expect of our students in today’s “Information World”. We now place less emphasis on the ability to memorize quantities of material and more on the ability to use concepts and facts to solve problems. In the “real world”, beyond exams, we can look up the information needed, rather than rely on our memory. This rationale has been presented in connection with open-book exams (7–9) and take-home exams (6). Consequently, I do not discourage students from using photocopying to help create their Reminder Sheet. Of course, student access to a Reminder Sheet means that we cannot rely on exam questions that assess rote memorization. Instead we must create questions that challenge students to utilize information. Teaching assistants are encouraged to assist students in preparing their Reminder Sheet. In discussion/problemsolving sections, if a student is unable to solve one of the assigned exercises or practice problems, the teaching assistant should inspect the Reminder Sheet and either show how the information is available to solve the problem or else indicate what information needs to be added. (This plan is not often successful, since students rarely bring their Reminder Sheet to section, or they are reluctant to show it to their teaching assistant, or the teaching assistants are not experienced enough to help.) Students are cautioned that not everyone permits Reminder Sheets. My colleagues who teach subsequent
courses may not permit them. Nor do those who prepare GRE, MCAT, and graduate-school placement exams. Therefore students will need to learn the material well enough to use it in future studies. However, the use of Reminder Sheets relieves them of much of the burden of memorizing while they are learning, so that learning can be facilitated. When they have more experience with the information and how to use it, it can be absorbed more easily. The response of my students to Reminder Sheets has been decidedly favorable. They appreciate the emphasis on concepts over memorization and the “real-world” aspect that permits them to utilize information to solve interesting problems. The effect of reminder sheets to reduce student anxiety has often been noted (6, 10, 11). I certainly recommend to educators that they incorporate Reminder Sheets into their examination procedures. Literature Cited 1. Phillips, G. J. Reading 1995, 38, 484. 2. Pauker, J. D. Teach. Psychol. 1974, 1, 71–73. 3. Weber, L. J.; McBee, J. K.; Krebs, J. E. Res. Higher Ed. 1983, 18, 473–483. 4. Hindman, C. D. Teach. Psychol. 1980, 7, 166–168. 5. Healy, P. C.; Landbeck, R. C.; Hewson, M. G. A’B. J. Chem. Educ. 1985, 62, 779. 6. Trigwell, K. Assess. Eval. Higher Ed. 1987, 12, 56–65 and references cited. 7. Becker, R. J. Chem. Educ. 1995, 72, 816–819. 8. Bacon, F. Education & Training; September 1969; p 363. 9. Feller, M. Studies Ed. Eval. 1994, 20, 235–238. 10. Whitmer, J. C. J. Chem. Educ. 1983, 60, 85. 11. Kalantar, A. H. J. Chem. Educ. 1983, 60, 1058.
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