Linking First-Year Chemistry and
English Composition to Promote
Student Success
• Dr. Anita Gandolfo,
Director, Center for
Teaching Excellence
• COL Buddy Blackman,
Department of Chemistry
and Life Science
UNITED STATES
MILITARY ACADEMY,
WEST POINT, NY
OUTLINE
• Introduction
– Basics of what we did
– Why
– Goals
– USMA Classes
• Details of the linkage and our operations
• Results
• Future Plans
INTRO - Basics
• Class composed of same cadets in both
General Chemistry and English
Composition
• Write about chemistry topics in English
• English corrected by English “P”
• Chemistry content comments provided by
chemistry “P”
• Provide additional feedback and help as
requested
INTRO – Why?
• Your thoughts:
INTRO – Why?
• Previous experience with in-class writing
in chemistry
• Break down barriers between student
“learning compartments”
• Break down barriers between academic
departments
• Improve student learning of CHEMISTRY
CONCEPTS
INTRO - Goals
• Improve - DEEPEN - student learning of
concepts
• Stimulate discussion of concepts
• Improve feedback to students and provide
more time for student reflection
• No impairment of performance in English
Comp
INTRO – USMA Classes
• Classes consist of small, <19, students
• Arranged to have English class
immediately following chemistry
• Both classes required of all cadets, usually
in their first year – “Core Course”
EXERCISE TIME!!
• Break up into small groups
• What two courses would you like
to link?
• Why?
• Goals?
(Take 3-4 minutes…)
DETAILS - Class
• Class composed of volunteers from “at risk”
group
• From Prep School and knew each other
• English “P” attended chemistry training
• Chemistry meets for 80 minutes, but
“blocked” for 2 hours (Lab)
• English class, 55 minutes, was immediately
after chemistry
• Meet every other day
DETAILS - Ops
• “Daily Write”
– Single paragraph in 3-5 minutes at start of
class
– Usually based on student experiences to
allow natural writing
Ex: What do you find most challenging
about college work?
DETAIL - Ops
• “Daily Write” (contd.)
– At times used to develop student
metacognition about writing
Ex: So far, what is the most difficult part of
the writing process for you?
– Developed “Daily Writes” based on their
chemistry lesson
“Daily Write” Examples:
Explain to your eight-year-old brother what density
is. Be sure to use examples to illustrate this
concept for him.
Your mother is coming to visit you (and see the
football game) this weekend and wants to hear
about what you’ve been learning. Explain to her
what a mole is and why it is important in
chemistry.
Which part of this lesson (chemistry) was most
difficult or confusing for you? Why?
EXERCISE TIME!!
• Back into your groups
• Your thoughts on our “Daily Write”
scenario
• Develop at least one “Daily Write,” or other
exercise, for your linked courses
(Take 3-4 minutes…)
DETAILS – Ops
• Cadets write paragraphs, proofread, and
submit to English P
• Paragraphs corrected and feedback given
to cadets after class
• Cadets correct and resubmit
• Paragraphs sent to Chemistry P for
content comments – Anonymous
• Returned to English P and then cadets
(Usually on the same day.)
EXAMPLE – Eng P Feedback
…For example, carbon’s atomic number is written
in the top right hand corner [see below]…The
atomic mass indicates nucleus’ mass and[G1] it
is measured in atomic mass unit, amu…
• There are two separate things going on in
those green words. The first thing for you to
keep in mind is that when you have multiple
modifiers, they are separated with commas.
So this should be
•
top, right hand corner.
• [G1]You need a comma before the conjunction
because you are separating two complete
sentences here.
EXAMPLE – Eng P Feedback
• …Atomic Mass [G1]is measured in AMU…
To find an elements[G2] atomic number …
top of the elements [G3]periodic box.
• [G1]Why the capital letter here? The word
was not capitalized in the question
—“attention to detail.”
• [G2]Of course, you can now see that this
should be “element’s”?
• [G3]Once more, you need the apostrophe
here—watch out for these possessives!
EXAMPLE – Chem P Feedback
1. Mom, a mole is the amount of substance that
contains the atoms and particles of an
element. (Huh?) It is important in chemistry
because the mole makes it possible for
chemists to convert real world problems into a
chemical equation. (Meaning, I guess, that
chemical equations aren’t real world?) This
process allows the chemist to create an
equation for the product of a chemical reaction.
(What process? This collection of pretty well
written sentences is meaningless.)
EXAMPLE – Chem P Feedback
1. Mom, the mole is the standard value
used to measure the number of atoms,
particles, or molecules in an element just
as a dozen is the value sometimes used
to count the number of eggs. A mole of
anything has 6.022X10E23 things. For
example, a mole of eggs equals
6.022X10E23 eggs. (Good. But why is
it important?)
TECHNOLOGY!!
• Paragraphs written on laptops and
submitted via wireless web
• Feedback given using MS Word and email
• P’s in different building and most
communication via email
NOT terribly high tech.
RESULTS - Performance
• Numbers indicate SUCCESS:
– One of 16 failed chemistry
– None failed English
– Usually one-half of the failures come from this
“at-risk” group
• BUT, never moved beyond level-one
learner level
RESULTS - Survey
“EH101 helped me perform better in my
CH101 class”
• 8 agree or strongly agree
• 3 neutral
• 3 disagree
RESULTS - Survey
“I would have done better in CH101,
achieved a higher grade, if I had been in
standard CH101 and EN101 sections”
• 1 agree
• 4 neutral
• 9 disagree or strongly disagree
RESULTS - Survey
“EH101 helped me perform better in my
EN101 class”
• 5 agree or strongly agree
• 3 neutral
• 6 disagree
RESULTS - Survey
“I would have done better in EN101,
achieved a higher grade, if I had been in
standard CH101 and EN101 sections”
• 5 agree or strongly agree
• 4 neutral
• 5 disagree
English P Thoughts
• Students did NOT use discussion
time prior to writing
• Focus on content lessened
effectiveness of daily write exercise
– Since students seems to simply try to
regurgitate what they remembered as the
“correct” chemistry response, the daily writing
did not elicit their natural style, and thus there
was less improvement in their overall writing
than with previous classes
Chem P Thoughts
• Students NEVER sought help or
explanations concerning daily writes or my
comments
• Few ever viewed the “best” paragraph on
English P’s web page
• A few never even looked at the comments
• Students thought it valuable because it
helped them ID what they didn’t know, but
could ignore it because no immediate
consequences! (Level one again.)
EXERCISE TIME!!
• Back in your groups
• Discuss what you would do different and
develop 2-3 suggestions
• Take 3-5 minutes
FUTURE PLANS
• Provide questions prior to homework
assignment (Risk limiting their study.)
• Use a truly random group of students
• Focus on student study and performance
behaviors that impede learning
– One ignored process in both classes
– One overestimated ability in both classes
• Use of Blackboard to have a single page
for linked courses