Use of Home-Laboratory Chemistry Sets during the COVID Pandemic to Impart Learning in a Public University: Comparison of Two Cohorts
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Ruth Fuentes-García [1] ; Luis Peña-Cruz [1] ; Georgina Nieto-Castañeda [1] ; Giovanni Aldana-Gutiérrez [1] ; Claudia Alejandra Ponce de León-Hill [1]
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[1] Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
México
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- Localización: Journal of chemical education, ISSN 0021-9584, Vol. 100, Nº 6, 2023, págs. 2150-2158
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
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Resumen
The COVID pandemic forced teachers to be imaginative, especially with purely practical subjects such as laboratory chemistry. In the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, the first-semester chemistry laboratory of the Biology course was taught with a chemistry set to be used at home. The use of the kit was evaluated from the perspective of knowledge acquired, motivation, and attitude. For comparison, groups that did not have the kit were also evaluated. The results for the fall semester 2020, showed that students who were supplied with a home kit remained motivated and had greater confidence in their skills to cope in the chemistry laboratory than did those without it. Family involvement in setting up the materials for the experiments had a beneficial effect on the family dynamic while they were enduring lockdown. The home kit experience was again assessed in the fall semester of 2021 with a new cohort of students; these students were markedly less motivated that those of the previous year’s intake, and their attitudes were less positive. Socioeconomic background showed differences for the first cohort on their learning scores unlike the second cohort, probably attributable to depression, boredom, fear, or uncertainty. The teachers found that their interaction with the students during the experiments with the chemistry kit reinforced theoretical concepts. The experience gained with the chemistry set during the pandemic, together with feedback from the surveys applied to the teachers, gave us the necessary confidence to propose this approach to conduct on formal virtual classes.
