Disclaimer: This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DUE – 0126498. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recomendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF)
Student assessment of learning gains surveys - A Salg survey was adapted from the original work of Elaine Seymour. We Chose Five Specific question areas, each is listed below, with a brief synopis of the results. Survey's were taken at the end of the lab course during the Fall 2002, Fall 2003, and Fall 2004. In addition, a modified SALG survey was given to students before the fall semester.
Q1: How much did each of the following aspects of the lab class help your learning? - These questions dealt with the general approach to the course material, the resources provided, and the instructor, the sub sections of this question were -
These questions addressed the students view of the material used as part
of the adaptation, for example, prelab assignments, lab report writing instruction,
etc.
See survey results. - Analysis
Q2: As a result of your work in this class, how well do you think that you now understand each of the following? - This question related directly with the content material, the the specific items on the survey's varied from semester to semester. See results - Analysis
Q4: To what extent did you make gains in any of the following as a result of what you did in this class? - This question dealt with some of the affective aspects of the WWC lab sequence. For example, seveal sub-questions concerned understanding the relationship between chemistry abnd the real world, enthusiasm, confidence, etc. See results here - Analysis
Q3: How much has this class added to your skills in each of the following? - These questions addressed the specific skills that we hoped to improve by using the WWC lab sequences. Specifically solving problems, writing lab reports, designing lab procedures, finding patterns in data, and working effectively with others
Q5: How much of the following do you think you will remember and carry with
you into other classes or aspects of your life? These questions loosely
mirrored the questions in Q3. This provides a measure of how confident
the students feel in their newly aquired skills. For example, a student may
feel that they improved their lab writing skill, but did not feel confident
they could apply that skill in another setting. These are subtle but important
distinctions that speak to the students view of the general applicabillity of
the learned skill, and the degree to which they feel they have integrated that
skill into their knowledge base.
See Result for Q3 and Q5 - Analysis
Longitudinal study. - We are currently following students through advanced chemistry courses to guage the impact that the WWC labs have had on these students. Some preliminary results of a longitudinal SALG survey are available here
A number of students were asked to create concept maps of the three week sequence of labs, for the adapted series D Global Carbon Cycle, I, the fireproof safe, and B, (metal ions and the blood), In working with Chemistry. Currently,detailed results are available for series D. Also, Mr. Greg Durland's MS thesis documents this work. More detailed analysis is in progress.