Integrating Active Learning into Traditional Organic and Biochemistry Courses: The Story of One Professor’s Paradigm Shift

TCE

The Chemical Educator

ISSN: 1430-4171 (electronic version)

Table of Contents

Abstract Volume 13 Issue 3 (2008) pp 127-130

Integrating Active Learning into Traditional Organic and Biochemistry Courses: The Story of One Professor’s Paradigm Shift

Noel S. Sturm

Department of Chemistry, California State University, Dominguez Hills, Carson, CA, 90747, USA, noel@chemistry.csudh.edu
Received May 6, 2007. Accepted July 1, 2007.

Published online: 3 May 2008

Abstract. This article explores how a traditional, didactic chemistry instructor integrated principles of active learning into undergraduate courses. While many of the principles of small group structure have found their way into K–12 classrooms, many science educators in institutions of higher learning still use a traditional lecture focus for their teaching. The principle is simple: students learn best working together in small, interactive groups, but putting this into practice in the college-level science curricula can be complex. Besides exploring the process, this article also focuses on a small pilot research project that concentrates on student achievement results and responses, especially the variance in grades earned when cooperative structures are applied to course instruction.

Key Words: In the Classroom; biochemistry; organic chemistry;alkanes/cycloalkanes; hormones; collaborative/cooperative learning

(*) Corresponding author. (E-mail: noel@chemistry.csudh.edu)

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