Improving Students Conceptual Knowledge in General Chemistry Using Desire2Learn

1
Improving Students Conceptual Knowledge in
General Chemistry Using Desire2Learn

• Joann Pfeiffer
• Century College (Twin Cities, MN)

2
Project

• Goal
• Have students take a quiz in D2L for each
  topic covered in General Chemistry.
• Motivation
• Students need to test themselves on conceptual
  understanding, not just on problems.
• The quiz tool in D2L provides an effective and
  efficient means for providing students with lots
  of questions.

3
Quiz Set-Up

• 10 multiple choice questions randomly selected
  from a question library
• Unlimited number of attempts allowed
• Highest attempt automatically recorded in the D2L
  gradebook
• Quiz questions with answers provided immediately
  after submission
• No time limit on the quiz completion required
  before exam on the material
• Focus of questions is on conceptual knowledge

4
Example Questions

• 1. For the reaction A B, the rate law is Rate
  kA. What are the units of the rate constant
  where time is measured in seconds?
• a) M-1s-1 b) Ms c) s/M d) M2/s e) s-1
• 2. What determines the exponents in a rate law?
• i. experimentation
• ii. the coefficients in the balanced equation
• iii. the concentrations of the reactants
• a) i only b) ii only c) iii only
• d) i and ii e) ii and iii

5
Examples

• 3. In general, as the temperature increases, the
  rate of a chemical reaction
• a) decreases due to fewer collisions with proper
  molecular orientation.
• b) decreases for endothermic reactions.
• c) decreases for exothermic reactions.
• d) increases due a greater number of effective
  collisions.
• e) increases due to a lowering of activation
  energy.

6
Time-Saving Tip
Respondus
.rtf (Rich Text File) Word
.xml File D2L
www.respondus.com
7
Topics for Gen Chem II

• Quiz Topic (points) Number of Questions
• Kinetics (10) 34
• Equilibrium 1 (5) 43
• Equilibrium 2 (5) 17
• Acid/Base (10) 42
• Oxidation/Reduction (10) 41
• Thermodynamics (10) 44
• Solids (10) 28
• Naming (10) 27
• VSEPR (10) 36
• Electron Configuration (10) 27
• Quantum (10) 23

8
Results for Gen Chem II
9
Summary of Results for Gen Chem II

• Most students took each quiz until they got the
  maximum value possible
• On average, each student took the quiz 4-5 times
• 20 of the students in section 1 and 6 in
  section 2 took a quiz after earning the maximum
  value possible
• 43 of the students in section 1 and 24 in
  section 2 took quizzes that werent graded as a
  review for the final

10
Topics for Gen Chem I

• Quiz Topics (points) Number of Questions
• Intro/Sig Figs 43
• Atoms/mass 51
• Naming inorganics 81
• Rxns in aq soln 49
• Quantum 51
• Electron Configuration (5) 40
• Periodic Properties (5) 22
• Lewis Dot / VSEPR 72
• Thermochem 38
• Gases 65
• Intermolecular Forces 37

11
Results for Gen Chem I
12
Summary of Results for Gen Chem I

• Most students took each quiz until they got the
  maximum value possible
• On average, each student took the quiz 4.2 times
• 8.6 of the students took a quiz after earning
  the maximum value possible
• 14 of the students took quizzes that werent
  graded as a review for the final

13
Student Opinions Gen Chem I

• On a scale from 1strongly disagree to 5strongly
  agree
• The D2L quizzes were useful when studying
• the material for the course 4.12
• I find the study guides for the exams useful 4.12
• I liked working in groups on the activities in
• discussion sections (POGIL) 3.46
• I used my textbook often when studying the
• material for this course 2.79
• I used the CD-ROM disks that came with the
• text often. 1.76

14
Acknowledgements

• Dr Larry Litecky, President of Century College
• Center for Teaching and Learning at
• Century College
• Thank You