What Do lnstructors Expect from Beginning Chemistry Students? Part 1 Tony Mitchell1 Ohio Northern University.
Ada. OH 45810 Table 1.
The expectations of instructors, both high school and college, for students taking freshman chemistry in college has a direct bearing on what is taught in high school chemistry. This paper examines the differences between the expectations of high school teachers and college chemistry instructors concerning students who plan to study college chemistry. The Survey
A study was conducted in late 1986 that asked high school teachers and college chemistry instructors to identify the chemical knowledge, skills, and attrihutes that they felt students should have in order to he successful in college chemistry. Atotal of 316 faculty memhers from sixdifferent groupshigh school teachers, community college instructors, science education faculty, university faculty, freshman chemistry instructors, and four-year college faculty-responded to the survey. Table 1shows the groups and the number of respondents. The questionnaire consisted of 73 questions. These questions were based on the ACS High School Chemistry exam and discussions with memhers of the Chemistry Department a t the University of Iowa. Each respondent was asked to indicate the relative importance they gave t o each of the items on the survey. The possible responses were (1) "not important", (2) "may be important", (3) "some importance". and (4) "essential". Responses were analyzed using chi-square analysis. This paper focuses on questions dealing with knowledge of chemical concepts as well as ideas and skills utilizing those chemical concepts. Tahle 2 lists the 22 chemical-knowledge questions and 22 chemical-skills questions. Base Ouestlons An examination of the results of this section shows that there were eight questions where 90% or more of the high school teachers rated knowledge of that topic essential for success in college chemistry. A listing of these eight questions along with the percentage of each teaching group that rated knowledge of the topic essential is given in Tahle 3. A majority of only two of the college groups (freshman chemistry instructors and four-year college instructors) felt that knowledge of the concept was essential for success in college chemistry, and that was only for two of the questions (basic chemical symbols and mole concept). There was no question in which a majority of university chemistry faculty felt knowledee of a snecific chemical concept was essential. There also were no questions in this section ahere 90%of any colleee erouD felt knowledae of a specific chemical concept was &&tiai before takingcollege chemistry, and there w&e Knowledge
This article is based on the paper. "What Do We Expect Our Students to Know Before Taking Chemistry?", presented at the TwoYear College Chemistry Conference, April 4. 1987. Arapahoe Community College. Littieton. CO. I Present address: Chemistry Department, independence Community College. Independence, KS 67301.
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Journal of Chemical Education
Groups Responding l o the Survey QWD
Number
1. nigh school Teachers 2. Community College Instructors 3. Science Education Faculty 4. University Faculty 5. Freshman Chemisby lnsbvctors 5. Four-Year College Faculty
37 34 28
Table 2.
60 84 73
Comparison of auestlon Types
Knowledg%BaaedQuestions: ~tudentsshould know
Chemical-Skills Questions: Students should know how to
a. meaning of density b. features of ldsal gases C. difference between endothermic and exothermic reactions d. mole concept
a. determine mass b. balance chemical equations c. read a graph
e. identity of oxidizing agents 1. number of eiecbons in given ion g. natured pyramidal h. definition and examples of isomers i. types of bonding
j. meaning of structural formulas k. molarity of solutions I. examples of neuirallzatlon reactions m. examples ~f chemical changes n. relative sires of atoms 0.
meaning of compound nomenclsture
p. me nature of e l e m configurations q. me best kind of chemical bonding for condwting electricity r. the number of neubons in given isotopes S. meaning of atoms being attached to carbons tetrahedrally t. meaning of neubalization of a solution u. s conjugate acid-base pail v. basic chemical symbols
d. convert from one temperature scale to another e. determine equilibrium constants 1. determine density g. datermima sail pmduction h. compute percentage error I. interpret informationfrom periodic table j. compute volume when pressure is known k. determine percent mas? in a given chemi-1 I. determine oxidation number m. determine actlvatlon energy n. recognize unsaturated comwund 0. determine number of atoms of B given kind found in a particular compound p. recognize nonpolar molecules q. determima concentration of SOlutionS
r. determine relative strengM of acids
s. determine solubility product expressions t. determine pH U.
V.
determine mass deposited during electroplating determine what happens during electrolysis of water
Table 3. Percentage of Each Group that Ranked the Selected Chemical-Knowledge-Based Topics as "Essential"
Concept or Topic
1
2
I. types of bonding meaning of structural formulas k. molariw of solutions v.ba~icchemicalsymbols d. mole concept a. meaning of density C. difference between endothermic and exothermic reactions I. number of electrons in given ion
100% I00
35% 35
100 100 97 94 94
35 41 38 21 6
i.
Table 4.
Group 4 0% 0 0 22 9 0 0
5
6
30% 19
26% 36
7 62 56 31 8
49 62 68 42 18
92
35
0
12
1
2
read a graph 1. determine density 1.interpretinfo~tion ham periodic table q.determineconcentrat1on
100% 100 100
41% 9 35
65% 0 10
57% 19 25
4
2
7
C.
6 74% 27 33 31
14
Group
Imponant
May Be Important
Some Importance
Essential
n
1 2 3 4 5 6
1% 29 20 29 29 12
9% 34 54 48 24 22
11% 14 15 20 33 42
79% 23 10 2 14 25
800 748 616 1309 1848 1587
no questions where the number of college instructors responding was higher than the number of high school teachers as far as rating knowledge of a given tonic essential. As noted in Table 4, ?or all 22 &estio& in this section, 79% of the high school teachers (group 1)felt such knowledge was essential for success in college chemistry. Only 23% of the community college faculty, 2%of university chemistry faculty, 14% of freshman chemistry instructors, and 25% of fourvear college facultv felt such knowledge - was essential for success incollege chemistry. Skills Oue4lons
An examination shows only four questions where 90% or more of the high school teachers rated the specific skill as essential for success in college chemistry. A listing of these four auestions alone with the Dercentaee of each teachinggroup that rated knowledge of that skill as essential is given in Tahle 5. There were onlv two uuestions (determine mass, and read a graph) where majority of a t least one college erouo felt that such a skill was essential to have before &roiling for college chemistry. In the case of students being able to determine mass, only 55% of the four-year college faculty responding felt this was an essential skill. As noted in Table 5.65% of the university chemistry faculty, 57% of the freshman chemistry instructors, and 74% of the four-year college faculty felt that being able t o read a graph was an essential skill to have before beginning the study of college chemistry. As was the case with the questions on knowledge of chemical conceots. there were also no auestions in the skills section in wiich90% of any college group felt the skills listed were essential for success in college chemistry, and there were no questions where the percentage of Edege responses was greater than the responses of the high school teachers. A summary of the results is given in Table 6. I t is noted that the responses to this section of questions were similar to responses to the chemical-knowledge questions. The greatest change was in the community college instructors (group 2) who rated knowledge higher than skills (23% to 14%). Also, i t should be noted that university chemistry faculty (group 4) rated skills overall higher than knowledge (8%to 2%), though the percentage was very small in both cases.
a
97
5
Summary of Percent Ranklngs of Chemlcal-Based Sklll Questions by Group
CrWp
Important
May Be Important
Same Importance
Essential
n
1 2 3 4 5
3% 32 22 32 28 15
7% 26 50 41 30 24
16% 28 22 18 31 38
74% 14 5 8 11 22
814 708 616 1298 1838 1602
Nd
-
eoup 4
Concept or topic
Table 6.
Summary ol Percent Ranklngs Knowledge-Based Questions by Group
Not
Table 5. Percentage ol Each Group that Ranked the Selected Chemlcal-Based-Skill Questlons as "Essentlal"
6
Comments
How college instructors respond may depend on the question. For example, college instructors did not consider i t essential for students to he able t o determine eauilibrium constants. This finding is consistent with Streitberger's results ( I ) . Because equilibrium chemistry can be considered an advanced topic, college instructors would prefer that students wait until collree before workine with the tooic while concentrating on the more basic topics in high school chemistry. However, the results of this survey disagree with Streitherger's (1) and Zimelis's (2)conclusions that college instr&tors want incoming students to have a basic knowledge of chemistrv when they start. In both studies college instructors suggest that high school instruction concentrate on presenting basic information and study skills and leave more advanced tonics such as auantum mechanics and molecular orbitals for college chemistry. Stuart's study (3) determined that high school teachers place a greater emphasis on chemistry knowledge than do college instructors, while college instructors tend to rate skills higher. While the results of this study support this idea of leaving advanced material to college instruction, the notion that highschoolchemistryshoul~concentrate i n basic chemistry instruction was not suooorted. As stated earlier, there were only two questions where a majority of college instructors felt that knowledge of the material was essential. No attempt was made tocompare the degree of emphasis between skills and knowledge, so i t cannot be determined if the results of this study are comparable t o Stuart's (3). The goal of preparing high school students for college chemistry is not new. One of the stated goals of the CHEM Study and the CBA program was such preparation (4,5).As a result. manv high school teachers feel that thev have to teach a pseudo freshman college chemistry course in order to meet that eoal. If one examines current high school chemistry tentboiks, one finds that such texts aresimplified copies of collenr freshman texthwks ( 6 ) .Presentinn the coverage of in this manner also supports the idea that high school chemistry is a pseudo freshman chemistry course. However, there are also studies suggesting that students do not retain the knowledge taught in high school chemistry beyond high school. Niedzielski and Walmsley (7)considered the retention of knowledge by incoming freshman students. Their study shows that, within a year of completing ~~~
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Number 7 July 1989
563
high school chemistry, students have forgotten many of the concepts taught. Krajick and Yager (8)also assert that studying chemistry in high school solely as a preparation for college chemistry does nothing to increase the students' knowledge of chemistry. Conclusion I t is clear that there are differing perceptions between what high school teachers and what college instructors feel is essential for students taking college chemistry. Waggoner also reached this conclusion (7). In eeneral.. hieh school teachers feel that i t is aoorooriate .. . and necessary to teach the content their students will need in order to he successful in college chemistry. As Yager (9) states, each teacher, no matter a t what level of instruction, feels that i t is his or her responsibility to prepare students for the next higher level of instruction. But the responses to this study indicate that instructors a t higher levels do not feel the same way. Higher level instructori prefer that lower level instructors concentrate on teaching students how to study and think in general, leaving the development of a specific knowledge base about the subject to the "experts". Plan of Actlon Whv did colleee instructors eive such low ratines for what they expect from entering &dents? This low expectation mav be due in Dart to the Dhrasiua of the auestions. There is a significant difference between askhiinstructors what they expect their students to know and asking instructors what they want their students to know. Very little research has heen done with regard to the second question. Those involved with chemical education a t both levels need to develop research along lines of the second question. Also, an assumption made in this survey was that students who take high school chemistry eventually take college chemistrv. What chanees would occur if we concentrate on those students who do not take additional chemistry? Similarlv, what would he central to a cdlere freshman chemistrv course if it is the only chemistry course a student takes? Again, little research has been done in the area of comprehensive single chemistry courses.
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Journal of Chemical Education
The difference hetween hieh school teachers and those in the various college groups may indicate that college faculties are not completely satisfied with the results of high school chemistry. If that is the case, then i t would be beneficial for college instructors to work with highschoolteachers in order to improve chemistry instruction a t both levels. What is taught in high school chemistry relative to college chemistry, hoth the actual content and appropriate skills, are questions chemical educatorsat bothlevels need to workon together in order to achieve satisfactory results. Another probiem continually plaguing chemical education is how to cover adeouatelv the iucreasine amount of chemical knowledee within the limitations of theacademic calendar. The increased dialoeue between the two erouvs would allow high school teachers to concentrate on the fundamental framework of chemistry and allow college freshman level courses to expand coverage in specific areas and overcome this time problem. The framework for such discussions already exists in the form of the local ACS sections. Members of college chemistry faculties could contact schools within the geographical boundaries of the local ACS sections to offer help to improve instruction. This effort not only could involve deciding what should he covered in hoth college preparatory courses and other chemistry courses but also could help in developing laboratorv exoeriments for hieh school instruction. What tkisskdy hasshown thegap between theexpectatiwxofsr)ocific colleae facultscrounsand hiahschool teachers. The iesults of th;s s t u d i & e & a basis'for considering changes in both the hiah . school and colleae freshman chemistry &riculum. Lnerature Cited 1. Slreitberger, E. Sci. Tchr. 197G 44W, 35. 2. Zimelis, J. J.Chrm.Edur. 1381.58.489. 3. Stuart, T . C. J. Cham. Educ. 1977.54, 373.
Niedrie1ski.R.J.; Walmsley, F. J. Chrm.Edue. 1982.59, 149. 5. Ramsoy, G. A. Research Rouieru Series-Science Paper I: Ohio State University: Coiumhur. 1970. ERIC doeumenf ED 037 592. 6. Kirschner,Stanley.PaperpresentodetT-uo-YearCollegeChemistryConferenco,Arspshop Community College. Littleton. CO, April 3,1987. 7. Oahurn,G.ScholSci.Mofh. 1369.69.53. 8 Krajcik. J. S.;Yager,R. E. J.Chem.Educ. 1387.64.433. 9. Yager.R.E.Sci. Trhr. 1986,53(1),145. 4.
