College Chemistry Students' Recommendations to High School Students H. Eric Streitbergw California State University, Fullerton. CA 92634

How will college chemistrv differ from hieh school chemis- Items 1-8 deal with the day-to-day aspects of the chemis- try curriculum, i.e., homework, lectures, tests, etc. The most significant increase in levels is shown by Item 8, "Write-up of lab experiments," which correlates well with the written comments made by students from the earlier pilot study where many had lamented that they were not required in high school to write even one of the detailed laboratory reports required for every experiment in college chemistry. In Item 7, the increased "Difficulty level of the lab experi- ments" is perhaps indicative of the high degree of precision and error analysis work required in college chemistry labs rather than due to the experiments themselves. The de- crease in level in Item 6 "Amount of practice and drill solv-

try? What can-students expect in increased depth and amount of materials covered? To what degree will the com- petition change since only the top students are admitted to the colleges and universities? Questions such as these must certainly enter the minds of students contemplating a sci- ence or science-related major since chemistry will most like- ly he encountered early in college.

High school chemistry teachers must also have more than a passing interest in the first-year college chemistry curricu- lum since the success of their students in college chemistry may well he a reflection of the value of the-high school chemistry program. The high school chemistry teacher also is presented with the additional problem of providing for students who do not plan to attend college and for college- bound students who do not plan to major in a science- or technology-related field.

In an attempt to provide feedback to high school chemis- try students planning to enroll in a first-year or general chemistrv course and to their teachers, first-sear college

Average Change 01 Levels from Hlgh School Chemlstry to College Chemlstry and Percent (YO) of Students

1. Amount of homework change 0 % 23.6 chemistr; students were solicited in a pilot stud; (a) to state

how hieh school chemistrv prepared them for college chem- 2. Oifficuity of homework . . . istry and (b) to make recommendations to high school stu- dents preparing to take college chemistry. The results were 3. Chemistry lecture difficulty change 0

% 17.6 then 'sed to develop a survey of 15 items with three addi- tional items to determine students' perception of how chem- istry relates to their lives and/or to everyday world proh- lems.

In order to determine the deeree to which chanees oc-

4. Chemistry test difficulty change 0 % 14.3

change 0 % 25.4

change 0 % 21.6

change 0 % 16.0

change 0 % 6.6

change 0 % 23.5

change 0 % 10.7

change 0 % 29.1

change 0 % 19.0

6. Chemistry grading standards

curred from high school to college chemistry, respondents were directed to assess each of the 18 suwev items in terms

6. Amount of practice and drill solving problems

7. Difficulty 01 lab experimenls of levels, from low to high, first when in high school and second as i t pertained to colleee chemistrv. Respondents

8. WrRwp of lab experiments were also reqiested to recomm&d to high &hooistudents 'what should he emphasized in preparation for college chem- istry. Each assessment was made by circling a number to indicate the appropriate level, with 1 corresponding to a low level while the number 5 indicated a high level.

The survey was administered to 395 students a t California State Universitv Fullerton. Universitv of California Irvine.

9. Overall study habits (planning. organizing, studying efficiently)

lo. Studying in detail & in depm

11. Amount of memorizing

and University bf california Los ~ n g i l e s a t the end of thei* first vear of eeneral chemistrv. The students in the s a m ~ l e 12. Shldying of comprehension

learning & understanding r a M than memorization

13. Wrlting useful class notes

- represented an average of 39% of the total first-year chemis- try students enrolled. Sixty percent of the respondents were freshmen with the remainder mostly sophomores. Fifty-five percent of the respondents were male. The average high school chemistry grade point was 3.7 out of a 4.0 point total. Less than 5% of the respondents took high school chemistry

E w e 0 % 25.7

change 0 % 26.4

change 0 % 26.3

14. Personal initiative for serious intense & disciplined study

15. Thinking on my own andlw asking myself questions while studying

outside California.

Results: Hlgh School TO College Chemlstry 16. Interest in reading chemistry articles in newsppers, popular magmines, books, etc.

17. Relating chemistry to everyday life

A brief overview of the tahle shows that for the first 15 items, better than two-thirds of the respondents indicated an average increase of 1.8 changes in levels while an approxi- mate 20% of the respondents experienced no change in lev- els, and a small percentage experienced a decrease in levels from high school to college chemistry.

change 0 % 36.6

change 0 % 42.4

16. Inlemt in issues of concern to society involving chemistry (energy, nuclear, nubition, etc.)

700 Journal of Chemical Education

ing problems," by a significant 23.9% of the students may reflect that students had sufficient practice in high school or that college chemistry deemphasizes the drill and practice aspects of problem solving preferring to leave that to the high schools or to the individual students.

By far the greatest number of comments and helpful state- ments for high school students' success in college chemistry were in regard to personal study habits as indicated by items 9-15. Aside from Item 11 "Amount of memorizing," two- thirds or more of the resoondents experienced an increase ranging from 1.8 to 2.0 levels. Although rote memorization (Item 11). is important for retaining knowledge in chemistry. it is lessso if'the studying is on a more ;ntelligent a i d disciplined level, i.e., as indicated in items 10,12,14, and 15. ~ a s e d on a 2.0 levels increase by two-thirds of the first-year college chemistry students, Item 13 "Writing useful class notes" reflects also the almost exclusive lecture format of college chemistry as compared with a mixture in high school of lecture, discussion, laboratory, and other activities.

Data from survey items 16-18, relating chemistry to per- sonal. societal. and oolitical situations. etc.. show the ereat- . . est pkrcentagks of zero changes as well as the lowest in- creases in levels from hieh school to colleae when comaared with any of the other survey items. An Gamination of the raw data, i.e., the actual mean levels recorded (these dataare not presented in the study), shows that Items 16-18 were accorded the lowest average rankings for both the high school and the college categories when compared with all other items. Only Item 8 "Write-up of lab experiments," is tied with one of these low levels in the high school category. The above information thus seems to imply that neither the students nor their instructors in high school or in college show much concern about the relationship between chemis- try and daily life situations.

Summary and Recommendations

The study provides information on changes that high school students can reasonably expect upon enrolling in a first-year, college chemistry class. The recommendations suggested herein are taken from student survey items. It

should be noted that the information in the study is from students who hare ..survivedw the first year ofcoll&e chem- istry and not from students who have dropped out earlier for

~ -

a variety of reasons. The emphasisfor those high school students committed to

major in a science or science-related field in college should he on a good understanding of the basic concepts-halanc- ing equations, formulas and nomenclature, stoichiometry, gas laws, solutions, the Periodic Table, atomic structure, etc., includine drill and oractice solvine oroblems-the "heart" of an; chemistry program. I t shoAd-also be on im- proved labs and detailed lab reoorts, ~ e r h a o s u s h e colleee iabs and write-ups as models fbr some high school experi- ments. An increase in the "quality" of the day-to-day as- pects of chemistry instruction is recommended hut the in- creases need not necessarily match the changes of levels the students in the study perceived from high school to college chemistry. Almost 30% of the survey respondents recom- mended "no change" for high school chemistry reflecting perhaps that high school chemistry classes contain college- bound students hut not necessarilv students olannine to major in the sciences. Or, i t may beFthat any di'fferences in levels between hieh school and colleee chemistrv can reason- ably be made up& college.

An eauallv important recommendation for hieh school . . . chcmistry is that emphasis should be placed on good, per- sonal study hahits and useful note taking. Students should rely less un the memorization of facts and more on individual and in-depth thinking about the facts in terms of their rela- t ionshi~ andlor conce~tual strurture. To further aid in the integration of concepts into a cohesive structure in the minds of students, emphasis should also be placed on relat- ing these chemical concepts to daily life situations.

College chemistry in general will be much more difficult than high school chemistry, due in part to greater competi- tion from top students along with more in-depth informa- tion presented in.shorter, less personal time. Aid in college, the student is increasingly accountable only to himselfher- self as parental, community, and other peer influences de- crease. Knowing what to expect should certainly make the successful transition from high school to college chemistry easier for a young student.

Volume 62 Number 8 August 1985 701