2020 journal article

Local and Timely Class Project Promotes Student Engagement in a Nonmajors' Course: Organic Chemistry at the North Carolina State Fair

JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION, 97(6), 1620–1624.

co-author countries: United States of America 🇺🇸
author keywords: Second-Year Undergraduate; Organic Chemistry; Multimedia-Based Learning; Student-Centered Learning
Source: Web Of Science
Added: July 6, 2020

As a means to encourage student engagement and satisfaction in a large introductory organic chemistry class, students were tasked with the creation of instructional posters relating an organic compound to the North Carolina State Fair. Students had the freedom to choose what compound to represent and how to connect this compound to the state fair, as long as the final product was a digital poster suitable for sharing with other class members, and targeted to an audience of fair-goers. This report details the design and outcomes of the project with an emphasis on student choices and student perceptions of the completed works. Content analysis of the students’ reflections of work revealed that most students expressed positive feelings toward the assignment and appreciated the opportunity to engage in creative pursuits related to the material being covered in class.