Awareness, Analysis, and Action: Curricular Alignment for Student Success in General Chemistry

Author/Creator ORCID

Date

2018

Department

Program

Citation of Original Publication

Awareness, Analysis, and Action: Curricular Alignment for Student Success in General Chemistry Sarah Jewett, Kathy Sutphin, Tiffany Gierasch, Pauline Hamilton, Kathleen Lilly, Kristine Miller, Donald Newlin, Richard Pires, Maureen Sherer, and William R. LaCourse Journal of Chemical Education Article ASAP DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00564

Rights

This item may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. It is made available by UMBC for non-commercial research and education. For permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the author.
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Abstract

This article examines the ways that a shared faculty experience across five partner institutions led to a deep awareness of the curriculum and pedagogy of general chemistry coursework, and ultimately, to a collaborative action plan for student success. The team identified key differences and similarities in course content and instructional experiences. The comparative analysis yielded many more similarities than differences, and therefore, the team shifted its focus from “gap analysis” to an exploration of common curricular challenges. To address these challenges, the team developed content for targeted instructional resources that promoted the success of all STEM students across institutions. This article contextualizes the interinstitutional collaboration and closely examines the interactive components (awareness, analysis, and action), critical tools, and productive attitudes that undergirded the curricular alignment process of the STEM Transfer Student Success Initiative (t-STEM).