Because of our smaller size and limited resources, Southern Utah University has elected to limit our chemistry program to those courses that closely parallel the core curriculum advocated by the American Chemical Society (ACS). We have also adopted the ACS course-specific examination as the “final test” in each of our chemistry classes as part of our formal program assessment. For these reasons, we are very interested in those measurable factors that may influence student success on the ACS course-specific examinations. This particular study focuses on the mathematical correlation between student ACS scores in general chemistry courses and several measurable factors that may influence test results. We will report the correlation results between individual student ACS scores and items ranging from: ACT math sub-scores, ACT science sub-scores, mid-term examination scores, student SUU GPA's, and combinations of these factors. We will also briefly discuss earlier studies at SUU that measured the impact on student ACS scores from other items such as Peer-Led Team Learning and Chem Skill Builders. The ultimate intent of this study is to provide such information to current and future students to improve performance and success in general chemistry classes. This study has particular significance since a recent survey from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, funded by NSF, attempted to obtain science faculty perceptions of the factors influencing college science success (FICSS).
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Back to The 61st Northwest Regional Meeting (June 25 - 28, 2006)