Proposal Title
Development, implementation, and evaluation of a Chemistry Integrated Resource Package (ChIRP) for first year chemistry at UBC
Session Type
Presentation
Start Date
6-7-2011 5:30 PM
Keywords
textbook, improved learning outcomes, note-taking, chemistry, first-year students
Primary Threads
Education Technologies and Innovative Resources
Abstract
The Chemistry 121: Integrated Resource Package, affectionately known as the “ChIRP”, is a custom workbook designed to cover the essential chemistry content in the University of British Columbia’s introductory chemistry curriculum. This workbook, first introduced in 2009 in a course of ~2000 students, presents a streamlined approach to teaching and learning chemistry. The ChIRP combines learning objectives, expository text, practice exercises, skill procedures, discussion questions, content applications, and problems. We designed this workbook to improve the learning outcomes of our students, who were not being served by the existing course text.
I will discuss how the author team of three developed the first edition over sixteen months, and give insights into the lessons we learned. I will share how we decided to carry out the writing, graphic design, and publishing/printing. The workbook is flexible, and so far twelve faculty members have successfully integrated it into their lectures in a variety of ways.
I will describe the outcomes and limitations of our evaluation process. We compared student performance on final exam items and course grades. Class performance post-ChIRP introduction was significantly higher than pre-ChIRP, which means more students are passing. Results from end-of-term surveys of students will be discussed. An example is that ~80% of students reported they would like to use workbook style texts like the ChIRP in other classes. Our project has received considerable interest from colleagues in other disciplines at UBC, thus it is likely that insights gained from this presentation can be applied to many science disciplines.
Development, implementation, and evaluation of a Chemistry Integrated Resource Package (ChIRP) for first year chemistry at UBC
The Chemistry 121: Integrated Resource Package, affectionately known as the “ChIRP”, is a custom workbook designed to cover the essential chemistry content in the University of British Columbia’s introductory chemistry curriculum. This workbook, first introduced in 2009 in a course of ~2000 students, presents a streamlined approach to teaching and learning chemistry. The ChIRP combines learning objectives, expository text, practice exercises, skill procedures, discussion questions, content applications, and problems. We designed this workbook to improve the learning outcomes of our students, who were not being served by the existing course text.
I will discuss how the author team of three developed the first edition over sixteen months, and give insights into the lessons we learned. I will share how we decided to carry out the writing, graphic design, and publishing/printing. The workbook is flexible, and so far twelve faculty members have successfully integrated it into their lectures in a variety of ways.
I will describe the outcomes and limitations of our evaluation process. We compared student performance on final exam items and course grades. Class performance post-ChIRP introduction was significantly higher than pre-ChIRP, which means more students are passing. Results from end-of-term surveys of students will be discussed. An example is that ~80% of students reported they would like to use workbook style texts like the ChIRP in other classes. Our project has received considerable interest from colleagues in other disciplines at UBC, thus it is likely that insights gained from this presentation can be applied to many science disciplines.