How Guided Inquiry Classes Affect Students' Learning Chemistry

Presenter Information

Brendan P. Roggow, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Location

CSU Ballroom

Start Date

28-4-2009 10:00 AM

End Date

28-4-2009 12:00 PM

Student's Major

Chemistry and Geology

Student's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Mentor's Name

Jeffrey Pribyl

Mentor's Department

Chemistry and Geology

Mentor's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Description

Studies show that students learn concepts better when engaged actively using critical thinking rather than passively listening to lectures. When students are able to interact with other students to discuss and question topics along with constant feedback from the instructor, increased academic success is shown. This is especially true in chemistry classes dealing with complex ideas with which some learners have trouble. This study was designed to determine if a Guided Inquiry class can be used to show correlations with academic success and knowledge retention over the course of a semester. Two sections of two different introductory chemistry courses were used. One section of each course was taught by lecturing. The other section of each course was taught using the Guided Inquiry approach. In the Guided Inquiry sections, students worked in groups of up to four during each class period using materials provided by the instructor. Working as a group creates "group accountability" which helps less motivated students to accomplish more while not hindering the top students. This work demonstrates that the Guided Inquiry method of instruction increased students' retention of chemistry concepts.