How Holistic Scoring Kept Writing Alive in Chemistry

Abstract

After Southeast Missouri State University decided to replace its general education program with the University Studies program in 1987, I was given a charge to develop a new chemistry course for the program. The course had to meet most (if not all) of nine instructional objectives common to all University Studies courses, to function as a service course for premis ing students, and to convey enough con tent to serve as a prerequisite for Or ganic and Biological Chemistry. Fi nally, the course (including a labora tory) had to fit into a three-credit-hour format. With these requirements in mind, I began to define the new course. In order to meet Objective 3: Demonstrate ef fective communication skills, I would assign up to six formal laboratory re ports. Implicit in the cumulative vertical nature of scientific knowledge is the need to communicate observations, hy potheses, and theories. With Isaac New ton's famous statement as an introduc tion?If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants (Newton 1676)?I designed a class dis cussion to reveal how a standard format (abstract, introduction, procedure, re sults and discussion, conclusion) pro motes efficient transfer of scientific knowledge through journal articles.