Improving the Success of First Term General Chemistry Students at a Liberal Arts Institution

Kari Stone,Sarah Shaner,Carol Fendrick

doi:10.3390/educsci8010005

Kari Stone, Sarah Shaner + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci8010005

Copy DOI

Abstract

General Chemistry is a high impact course at Benedictine University where a large enrollment of ~250 students each year, coupled with low pass rates of a particularly vulnerable student population from a retention point of view (i.e., first-year college students), make it a strategic course on which to focus innovative pedagogical development. Although our institution is not alone in the challenges that this particular course presents, we have prioritized implementing interventional strategies targeting academically underprepared students to increase their success by providing a preparatory course prior to this gateway course. Focusing on the persistence framework to guide curricular decisions, progress towards aligning our general chemistry curriculum to the academic profile of our students has afforded much higher pass rates than even two years ago.

Highlights

Benedictine University is a small liberal arts college in the western suburbs of Chicago, IL that has ~2000 undergraduate students across four colleges
General Chemistry sequence courses are high impact courses for our university as ~250 students enroll in these courses each year
It cannot be proven as a causal effect, performance in first semester general chemistry may be linked to attrition of STEM majors as shown by decreased graduation rates for students who are unsuccessful in this pivotal course

Summary

Introduction

Benedictine University is a small liberal arts college in the western suburbs of Chicago, IL that has ~2000 undergraduate students across four colleges. General chemistry is known to be a barrier to success among many first-year students [1,2]. This is true at Benedictine, where the general chemistry sequence courses are high impact courses within the College of Science with ~250 students enrolled each year. One natural consequence of low success rates in a high impact gateway course like general chemistry is that it affects retention of students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines during the vulnerable transition from freshman to sophomore academic years [3]. A correlation between failure in introductory courses and university attrition is not unusual for institutions [4]

Methods

Results

Conclusion