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Chemistry 1A: General Chemistry 1

Achievement, Equity, Motivation

Reflection on Instructional Change for Equity-Minded Instruction:

I am implementing aspects of specifications grading into CHEM 1A. This encourages students to focus on learning rather than on points. The use of clear learning goals and grading standards, combined with ideas such as basing grades on completion of "bundles" consisting of different difficulties or quantities of work, allows students to be in control of their course outcomes. Along with clear feedback on graded work, these practices have been shown to improve student outcomes. They encourage students to work to the best of their abilities and not to assess their own success based on comparison with other students or scores.

These changes are being implemented in three aspects of CHEM 1A. First, during Fall 2023 and Spring 2024, "Proficiency Quizzes" that CHEM 1A instructors have given to test student preparation on key skills were replaced, for students in my lecture, with "Basic Skills Quizzes" (BSQs). These BSQs are graded on an achievement-based scale. Students could retake each quiz 3 times. These BSQs will be modified in Fall 2024 (reducing retakes to 2 and modifying the schedule). The second change, developed for implementation in Fall 2024, is replacing written homework with weekly Discussion Quizzes. Discussion sections utilize group work, but there is no attendance requirement, resulting in low student engagement. Meanwhile, written homework assignments (presently 4/semester) cause a grading burden, encourage cheating, and add a high time requirement for students. The format of Discussions will remain unchanged; however, each Discussion will end with a 10 minute quiz mirroring one of the questions from that day's worksheet. Grading will be on a modified pass/fail basis, with extra points for completion of more than a minimum number of quizzes, helping to encourage attendance and active student engagement. Finally, a ChemToken system will be introduced, with students having 3 tokens to use each semester to turn in online homework late, earn extra BSQ retakes, skip Discussion Quizzes, or boost exam scores. These tokens will remove some deadline pressure, particularly for students who work or have other competing obligations.

Students responded very positively to BSQs, with students appreciating the ability to work to improve their performance.

I believe BSQs have improved student attitudes. Previous feedback indicated that they viewed Proficiency Quizzes as unreasonably difficult. Students with weaker backgrounds were thrown into a sink-or-swim environment. The BSQs remove that mentality, and students seem to be focusing on improving their performance in their basic chemistry skills.

**Evidence of Instructional Change**
Basic Skills Quiz 1	Basic Skills Quiz 4
Image of Basic Skills Quiz 1, showing solutions and the grading guidelines based on achievement-based grading standards.	Image of Basic Skills Quiz 4, showing solutions and the grading guidelines based on achievement-based grading standards.

Changes in Course Syllabus and Schedules:

Pre Minigrant - Syllabus and Schedule:

Syllabus: 1ASyllabus_S24.pdf, Schedule: 1ASchedule_Peebles_S24_012424.pdf

Post Minigrant - Syllabus and Schedule

Syllabus: 1ASyllabusModified_F24.pdf, Schedule: 1ASchedule_Peebles_F24_Modified.pdf

Minigrant Impact Data:

Pre Minigrant - DFW rate, Equity gap data

Screenshot of Ethnicity Data - CHEM 1A Fall 2023

Post Minigrant - DFW rate, Equity gap data (*To be completed for FINAL report)

**Faculty Bio**
Faculty Picture	Bio
	Faculty Bio: Dr. Peebles is a Physical Chemist with research interests at the intersection of Chemistry and Physics. She teaches Chemistry 1A and the junior/senior level physical chemistry lab course, Chemistry 141. She has a particular interest in teaching chemistry in a way that makes an intimidating subject approachable and relatable for students at all experience levels. She is also more generally interested in broadening participation in STEM fields by people from groups that are typically underrepresented in science. When she is not teaching, she enjoys working with undergraduate research students studying the structures of small molecular clusters, and when she is not doing research, she enjoys reading and gaming.

STEM4Equity: US Dept. of Education STEMHSI P031C210012
*Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sacramento State.