Awareness, Analysis, and Action: Curricular Alignment for Student Success in General Chemistry

Abstract

This article examines the ways that a shared faculty experience across five partner institutions led to a deep awareness of the curriculum and pedagogy of general chemistry coursework, and ultimately, to a collaborative action plan for student success. The team identified key differences and similarities in course content and instructional experiences. The comparative analysis yielded many more similarities than differences, and therefore, the team shifted its focus from “gap analysis” to an exploration of common curricular challenges. To address these challenges, the team developed content for targeted instructional resources that promoted the success of all STEM students across institutions. This article contextualizes the interinstitutional collaboration and closely examines the interactive components (awareness, analysis, and action), critical tools, and productive attitudes that undergirded the curricular alignment process of the STEM Transfer Student Success Initiative (t-STEM).

Using social influence models to characterize student interest in a general chemistry peer-led team learning setting

“…For example, transfer students come into a university setting after having experienced some classes at a community college. While transfer students are around 40% of the incoming degree-seeking undergraduate 12 month enrollment in the US (NCES, 2020), there has been limited focus on them as a group among chemistry education researchers (Wesemann, 2005) outside of a few initiatives such as the t-STEM program (Jewett et al 2018). Transfer students more frequently have employment in addition to their coursework while also being more likely to commute to campus than their peers, which has been suggested as a potential reason for their lower rates of success in general chemistry relative to their peers (Stitzel and Raje, 2021).…”