Abstract
The Indiana General Assembly has encouraged student participation in rigorous high school courses through support of the Advanced Placement (AP) Program in Indiana. Although the number of Indiana students taking AP Examinations has increased dramatically over the seven-year span of this initiative, achievement is significantly below the national average. For example, only 23.4% of Indiana students taking the 1996 AP chemistry examination scored as "qualified", "well qualified", or "extremely well qualified". Nationally, 55.3% of students received these scores. To help improve the preparation of Indiana's high school chemistry students, we propose a new course for high school teachers that will complement the summer AP institutes presently sponsored by the state. This graduate-level course will help teachers upgrade their chemistry knowledge and, at the same time, share pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) with their peers. Better command of the subject matter will help teachers assist their students in mastering AP college-level chemistry. Better awareness of how to present the material (i.e., PCK) will improve the efficiency of covering the large amount of material required of an AP course. The course will be delivered as an eight-week summer program by a combination of two methods: a textbook and the internet. The course will guide participants through a review of content, assist them in linking individual concepts, give them an opportunity to share ideas for their classrooms, and familiarize them with use of e-mail and the internet as resources for their courses. Use of the listserver and e-mail will be encouraged for discussion and questions.
The Indiana AP Initiative
The Advanced Placement (AP) Program, a cooperative educational endeavor involving secondary schools, colleges, the College Board, and other organizations, is based on the premise that college-level material can be taught successfully to able and well-prepared secondary school students. Participating colleges grant credit to students who have done well on the AP Examinations. More than 50 percent of the nations high schools offer some AP course work, and more than one-half million students participated in the AP Program during the 1995-96 academic year.
In order to encourage student participation in rigorous high school math and science courses, the 1990 Indiana General Assembly passed Public Law 52-1990, a law requiring public high schools to offer Advanced Placement courses in science and math. These courses are expected to prepare students for the AP Examinations in these subjects. English language and composition was added subsequently. The State of Indiana pays the fees for the examinations in mathematics, science and English.
The initiative is working: More Indiana students are taking AP courses and AP Examinations. In 1990, the last year students paid for examinations, 2333 AP Examinations were taken in Indiana with only 669 examinations in mathematics and science. In 1996, the total was 14,263, of which approximately 10,000 were in subjects supported by the state1. In 1996, Indiana ranked 27th in the nation in AP Examinations per 1000 11th and 12th grade students (97 examinations per 1000 students2).
Unfortunately, the achievement of Indiana students on AP Examinations is much lower than the national average. The results for the chemistry examination are tabulated in Table I on the next page. As may be seen, the percentage of well qualified and extremely well qualified Indiana students is only about one-fourth of the national average and the mean score of Indiana students on the chemistry examination is almost one point lower than the national average (on a scale from 1 - 5). In 1996, the mean score of all AP Examinations taken by Indiana students in all disciplines was the lowest of the 50 states and the District of Columbia2.
Table I. AP Examination Results in Chemistrya
(Numbers of Students with Percentages in Parentheses)
|
|
Indiana 1991 |
Indiana 1996 |
National Totals 1996 |
|
Students Taking Exam |
1001 |
1429 |
31556 |
|
Score = 5b |
19 (1.9%) |
40 (2.8%) |
4469 (14.2%) |
|
Score = 4 |
41 (4.1%) |
60 (4.2%) |
4336 (13.7%) |
|
Score = 3 |
126 (12.6%) |
234 (16.4%) |
8636 (27.4%) |
|
Score = 2 |
273 (27.3%) |
309 (21.6%) |
7697 (24.4%) |
|
Score = 1 |
542 (54.1%) |
786 (55.0%) |
6418 (20.3%) |
|
Mean Score |
1.72 |
1.78 |
2.77 |
a
Data from references 1 and 2.b
5 = Extremely well qualified4 = Well qualified
3 = Qualified
2 = Possibly qualified
1 = No recommendation
State-Supported Assistance for AP Teachers
Since 1990, the Indiana General Assembly has funded summer AP institutes for public high school teachers. In 1998 support will be extended to teachers in nonpublic schools. The summer institutes are a major component of the Indiana AP initiative. With better command of their subject matter, teachers are better able to assist their students in mastering college-level material. In addition, a teacher better prepared to teach an AP course will be more comfortable with other related courses, including courses that may be restructured to meet the proficiencies outlined in the Indiana Core 40 Program.
Since 1991, science and mathematics departments at Purdue University and other academic institutions in our state have offered summer AP teacher institutes. Most institutes involve a five-day program and meet a portion of many teachers' needs for continuing education to maintain certification. Although a teacher does not receive a stipend for the week, the state pays the $550 fee for the institute.
The intensive summer AP Chemistry Institute offered by the Department of Chemistry at Purdue University reviews content, provides laboratory experience, discusses organization of AP courses, and stresses the high level of performance expected of students in the AP program. We review concepts and discuss course content in the mornings, carry out laboratory work in the afternoon, and discuss course organization and expectations of students in the evenings. The structure of this institute is little different from many other AP Chemistry Institutes.
Use of Asynchronous Learning to Provide Additional Support for The AP Chemistry Teacher
Evaluations show that teachers in Purdue University's summer AP Chemistry Institutes believe the institutes provide valuable opportunities to improve their laboratory programs and to exchange views on organizing and improving their courses. Teachers also appreciate the content review. However, they consistently indicate that the chemistry content is too extensive to review successfully in one week. All we can do is outline the key points.
Many teachers do not or can not take advantage of summer institutes. During the past 6 years, 285 teachers have attended summer chemistry institutes in Indiana, and some of these were teachers from out of state (these teachers paid their own fees). There are 625 public school and 52 nonpublic school chemistry teachers in Indiana.
We propose to develop an internet-delivered graduate-level course that will provide a more extensive coverage of chemistry. The coverage will also be accessible to teachers who cannot spend a week away from home. The course, Concepts in AP Chemistry, will approach general chemistry from an advanced perspective. It will build on teachers' experience with the content and will focus on interrelating concepts, rather than simply providing training to solve numerical exercises.
The Course: Concepts in AP Chemistry
The faculty member proposing this course has been responsible for Purdue University's AP Chemistry Institutes for six years. His work with teachers and his familiarity with the AP Program have guided the list of topics for the course: equilibrium, kinetics, thermodynamics, electrochemistry, and nuclear chemistry. These are the areas where the most teachers in our institutes have needed help integrating concepts.
Concepts in AP Chemistry will be delivered as an eight-week summer program by a combination of two methods: a textbook and the internet. The course will guide participants through a review of content, assist them in linking individual concepts, give them an opportunity to share ideas for their classrooms, and familiarize them with use of e–mail and the internet as resources for their courses. Use of the listserver and e–mail will be encouraged for discussion and questions.
Participants will be provided reading assignments as an introduction of concepts. Relatively straight forward problems and discussion questions will serve as a self-check of initial understanding. More involved exercises will use spreadsheet templates and/or data that is downloaded from our server. Some exercises will direct participants to specified sites on the internet to find information for the solution.
Small groups of participants will use e–mail or listservers specific for their group to discuss concept maps for each of the topics in the course. Based on this discussion, each participant will produce his or her individual concept maps. (A concept map is a method of displaying the relationships within and among the clusters of concepts that constitute a unit of knowledge. Generating concept maps often leads to formation of new relationships among the concepts in the map.)
Using the listserver, each participant will describe a set of two demonstrations and one laboratory per topic. These descriptions would include details, aspects of the topic that each demonstration or laboratory illustrates, and the pedagogical devices used to ensure that students understanding. Participants will contribute an annotated list of web sites relevant to AP courses.
At the end of the course participants will submit (by mail) a portfolio containing their solutions to the assigned problems and exercises, the final versions of their concept maps, descriptions of their demonstrations and laboratory, and their annotated list of web sites. Course grades will be based on this portfolio.
Assessment of The Program
The proposed course is an outgrowth of summer AP institutes. The teachers in these institutes indicated a need for a longer time to deal with the topics presented. The initial development of the proposed course resulted from their assessments of our summer institutes. Formative assessments will continue as we solicit and respond to participants' concerns during the course.
Summative assessment of the program will involve three main components. (1) Participants will be asked to complete a modified version of the assessment form described in Reference 3, a study of delivery of university science content and education courses to high school science teachers via telecommunications. (2) We will archive and review server messages to determine the extent of communication and the level of participation of the participants. (3) We will ask the participants for a critique of the program. Teachers are outspoken. If asked, they will tell us what works for them and what does not work.
We propose to publish a description of the program in a chemical education journal such as The Journal of Chemical Education or The Chemical Educator.
Need for The Project
This project addresses a critical state work force need, the enhancement of the credentials of high school chemistry teachers in Indiana and through them, the enhancement of their courses. Chemistry is a gateway course for many professional programs. At Purdue University, for example, chemistry is required of students in agriculture, engineering, health sciences, management, nursing, pharmacy, science, technology, and premedical, predental and other preprofessional studies. If the high school preparation of students is improved, they will have a better success rate in the university programs.
Schedule
We propose to offer Concepts in AP Chemistry during the summer of 1998. The time table for development follows.
March 1998 - Outline topics, define readings, set up web pages for course management.
April 1998 - Build download files and locate web-based resources. Direct mailing to teachers announcing an online AP Chemistry Institute. Advertize in the bulletins of the Hoosier Association of Science Teachers, Inc., and The Indiana Association of Chemistry Teachers.
May 1998 - Complete and test the web site. Design assessment instruments.
June 15 to August 7, 1998 - Offer the course.
Fall 1998 - Analyze the assesment data and prepare a publication.
Key Course Development Personnel
Professor William R. Robinson is the faculty member responsible for the course. He can call upon the assistance and advice of Dr. John Nash, the Department of Chemistry's multimedia specialist, Ms. Diane Burnett, the Chemistry Department's Outreach Coordinator, and the resources of the Multimedia Instructional Development Center at Purdue University.
References
1. The Indiana AP Advisory Council, Sayers, Evelyn M., Chair (1996). Advanced Placement Program, Six Years of Progress. The College Board, New York.
2. --- (1996) Advanced Placement Program: Indiana and National Summary Reports. The College Board, New York.
3. Lavoie, R. R. (1996) Delivering university science content/education courses to high school science teachers via telecommunications: An evaluation. Electronic Journal of Science Education. 1(4), 1996. ( http://unr.edu/homepage/jcannon/ejse/ejse9697.html)
VITA
William R. Robinson
Professor of Chemistry and Science Education
Department of Chemistry
Purdue University
West Lafayette, Indiana
EDUCATION
B.S. (Chemistry) Texas Technological College 1961
M.S. (Chemistry) Texas Technological College l962
Ph.D. (Inorganic Chemistry) Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1966
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
|
National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow, Shefield, England Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Purdue University Associate Professor of Chemistry, Purdue University Professor of Chemistry, Purdue University Professor of Chemistry and Science Education, Purdue University Visiting Professor, Department of Earth and Space Sciences, Stony Brook Fellow, Institute of Chemical Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison |
1966-67 1967-72 1972-80 1980-94 1994- 1973 1992-93 |
RELEVANT PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES (For the Past Five Years)
Research area: Chemistry education. Professor Robinson interests are directed at taking the results of research in science education and testing how to apply them to teaching chemistry at the college and secondary level.
Courses Taught: General and Inorganic Chemistry.
Other Relevant Activities:
American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Chemical Education: Examination Committee for the General Chemistry Exam, ad hoc Committee to write a general chemistry conceptual examination, ad hoc Committee for Solid State Instructional Materials
Author: Chemistry: Concepts and Models, W.R. Robinson, J. D. Odom, and H.F. Holtzclaw, Jr., D.C. Heath and Co., Lexington, MA (1992).
Teaching General Chemistry: A Materials Science Companion, A. B. Ellis, M. J. Geselbracht, Brian J. Johnson, G. C. Lisensky, and W. R. Robinson, ACS Books, Washington (1993)
General Chemistry, 10th Ed. W.R. Robinson, J. D. Odom, and H.F. Holtzclaw, Jr., Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, MA (1997).
Software: A Window on the Solid State: Part I. Structures of Metals; Part II. Unit Cells of Metals, Part III. Structures of Ionic Solids; Part IV. Unit Cells of Ionic Solids. J. Chem. Ed.-Software, April, 1997. Used in chemistry courses at Purdue University.
