P698: “Hybridized” general chemistry: How to squeeze a 378-student lecture into a 126-seat active learning classroom
Author:
Michelle Driessen, University of Minnesota, USA
Co-Author:
Date: 8/6/14
Time: 11:50 AM – 12:10 PM
Room: LTT 101
Related Symposium: S21
In the fall of 2010, the University of Minnesota premiered its new Science Teaching and Student Services building which contains multiple active learning classrooms (ALCs). The ALCs are flat rooms filled with round tables that seat 9 students each and facilitate group work. The largest of these rooms at the time held a maximum of 126 students, far too few for any general chemistry lecture at the University of Minnesota to utilize. As a science instructor looking to strengthen the problem-solving skills of my students, I desperately wanted to teach in these rooms and see how they could help my students. This talk will describe my “flipped class” solution to the scale issue. My flipped or “hybrid” class model reduces seat time and allows the use of an ALC to teach problem-solving skills to a large lecture section of general chemistry students – all without reducing content or diminishing outcomes.
P6: Integrating an electronic lab notebook and lab manual content: Using a flexible digital platform to facilitate problem-based experiments in general chemistry
Author:
Michelle Driessen, University of Minnesota, USA
Co-Author:
Date: 8/3/14
Time: 4:00 PM – 4:20 PM
Room: MAK B1138
Related Symposium: S1
During AY 2011-2012, the University of Minnesota general chemistry labs transitioned from verification to problem-based laboratories. This transition necessitated the use of laboratory notebooks where students plan and document their team’s unique experiments. While the problem-based labs have been successful, issues remained with the use of paper notebooks. In addition, the notebooks were the only portion of the course that was not digital/accessed online. This talk will describe the use of the LabArchives digital publishing platform and electronic laboratory notebook to streamline the management of a large-enrollment lab course, increase the quality of student notebooks, and allow greater supervision of both student work and TA grading.