Resumen de Cafeteria-Style Grading in General Chemistry
John A. Goodwin, Brian D. Gilbert
Self-selected individual course-grade weighting schemes allow students personal choice of course components in the general chemistry sequence at Coastal Carolina University. With the availability of a wide range of commercial and academically produced pedagogical resources, students can select materials that best suit their own learning styles, social situations, and motivation level. Our students use a signed contract to indicate their preferred grade-weighting schemes for determination of the course grade. In doing so, they choose from course components that include peer-led team learning (PLTL) in the Workshop Chemistry (WSC) model, computer-assisted instruction (CAI) using the ChemSkill Builder (CSB) software, a variety of in-class quizzes and group problem-solving exercises, written exams, and the final written exam. Minimum percentage values are required of all components except WSC and CSB, which have been completely optional graded course components at CCU since the summer of 1999. Comparison of student success in the course and content learning suggests that the improvements observed with introduction of a gamut of activities increase even more when the cafeteria-style grading is implemented.
