Simulations, feedback and assessment online

Online pre-lab preparation and post-lab reinforcement in Chemistry

Roy Tasker
University of Western Sydney

Discipline Area

Chemistry

Key assessment issue addressed

Online assessment of large chemistry classes in pre-lab preparation and post-lab reinforcement to help students link key concepts to laboratory experiences.

The initiative

In first year undergraduate chemistry students often have difficulty connecting the chemistry concepts they learn in lectures to the application of these concepts in the laboratory.

A series of online resources called Bridging to the Lab: Media Connecting Chemistry Concepts with Practice (see sample at http://whfreeman.com/bridgingtothelab/index.htm) involves computer-based
laboratory simulations designed to help students prepare for laboratory work. The simulations help students to link what they observe in the lab to what is happening at the molecular level, and to see how chemical changes are represented symbolically and graphically.

The modules have the following features:

  • Activities based on solving real-world problems by using critical thinking and decision-making.
  • Specific feedback tied to student choices.
  • Built-in accountability that records student progress and requires lesson completion, while still allowing freedom of navigation around the program.
  • An emphasis on experimental design, the accurate and precise reporting of results, the interpretation of data, and the conceptual basis for the experiment.
  • Visualisations of structures and processes at the molecular level, and videos, photos and simulations of laboratory procedures.

Modules can be used either as pre-laboratory preparation, as a laboratory supplement to introduce activities that are not part of the syllabus, or as homework assignments that reinforce lecture topics.

The reason for the initiative's effectiveness

Research has shown unequivocally that high-quality, pre-laboratory exposure to related theoretical concepts and experimental design increases students' deep learning and performance in the laboratory.

The modules motivate students to learn by proposing real-life problems (for example, designing a new cold pack) in virtual environments. Students make decisions on experimental design, observe reactions, record data, interpret the data, perform calculations, and draw conclusions from their results.
Following a summary of the experiment, students test their understanding by applying what they have learned to new situations or by analysing the effect of experimental errors.

The series was published internationally in July, and a comprehensive evaluation study with this year's first year chemistry student cohort at UWS is in progress.

Further details

Associate Professor Roy Tasker
School of Science, Food and Horticulture
University of Western Sydney
r.tasker@uws.edu.au
 
 

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