Early Warning Signals from Automaticity Diagnostic Instruments for First- and Second-Semester General Chemistry

Abstract

The Math-Up Skills Tests (MUST) has been used in multiple research projects conducted by the Networking for Science Advancement (NSA) team to determine how automaticity skills (what can be done without a calculator) in arithmetic can be used to predict if students will be successful (course average = 69.5%+) in general chemistry. This study expands our investigations to include how students’ quantitative literacy/quantitative reasoning (QL/QR) abilities influence their success. The NSA team studied multiple classes at eight universities (n = 1,915) within a broad geographic setting in one large, majority-minority southwestern US state. In a short amount of required classroom time, it is possible to identify students at the beginning of the semester who will struggle in first- and second-semester general chemistry (Chem I and Chem II). Results show a strong correlation between students’ automaticity MUST skills and their QL/QR ability (r = 0.60) and indicate that when taking both diagnostic assessments into consideration, convincing signals appear allowing for the identification of almost 50% of the Chem I students and about 45% of the Chem II students who will not succeed. With the addition of the QL/QR to the first-week assessments, about 9% more students who enter the courses underprepared were identified than when only the MUST was administered. Outcomes indicate that students with at least average arithmetic and QL/QR automaticity abilities are those who are better prepared for these courses. For on-sequence students with at least one average or above diagnostic score, 88.3% Chem I and 90.5% Chem II were successful.

What Makes a Grade? Harnessing Demographic and Supportive Factors to Predict General Chemistry I Completion

“…The opposite was true for students with lower math placement exam scores. Again, after controlling for IC course grade, students who placed into a course below calculus were less likely to complete GC-I, agreeing with the literature on a link between chemistry performance and math aptitude. − …”

“…Beyond differences in performance between demographic groups, grades and achievement in general chemistry have also long been related to students’ mathematics aptitude. − In particular, SAT and ACT math scores have been found to correlate highly with success in chemistry, ,, and performance on university developed and validated presemester assessments have corroborated these results. − As such, placing students into the appropriate chemistry course and bridging the gap between mathematically underprepared and prepared students are a challenge for chemical educators. Some institutions require a mathematics prerequisite, provide supplemental corequisite offerings that accompany mainstream courses, or have created distinct course pathways for students of varying preparedness based on their academic needs. ,,,− …”

Predictions of success in organic chemistry based on a mathematics skills test and academic achievement

“…Many of these include the mathematics portion of the SAT or ACT (Craney and Armstrong, 1985;Rixse and Pickering, 1985;Spencer, 1996;Lewis and Lewis, 2007;Ralph and Lewis, 2018;Kreiser et al, 2022), while others are more institution-based and cover common topics. Logarithms, scientific notation, graphs, algebra, and arithmetic without the use of a calculator frequently appear on these assessments of quantitative literacy and quantitative reasoning (Bohning, 1982;Leopold and Edgar, 2008;Kennepohl et al, 2010;Shelton et al, 2021). Tai et al (2006) identified multiple significant mathematicsrelated predictor variables in a regression model for success in first-semester college chemistry; these included enrollment in calculus in high school, SAT-math score, last grade in a high school mathematics course, and experience with stoichiometry in high school chemistry.…”