Insights into Student Cognition: Creative Exercises as an Evaluation Tool in Undergraduate First-year Organic Chemistry

Abstract

It is known that while students can be adept at recalling specific information, especially in end of semester summative exams, they can still often struggle to connect or link this information over different topic areas. In many cases, this issue is exacerbated by traditional assessments and teaching styles that focus on and reward students who have only interacted with the learning materials on a more surface level. Many attempts have been made over time to rectify this, with one such example shown in the use of Creative Exercises (CEs). CEs are open-ended tasks that allow students to connect as much prior knowledge as possible into one cohesive response, potentially developing a student’s ability to link and connect disparate topic areas and content. In this study, CEs were introduced into a large scale first-year course and focused on fundamental organic chemistry reactions for the first time (to the best of our knowledge). Students performed the CEs in groups, and the paper responses were collected over six weeks (N=945 in total). Analysis of these artefacts revealed that students did indeed struggle to connect information over subsequent teaching weeks. This inability to connect information was despite being encouraged to do so both by the tasks and the teaching staff. Additionally, while more ‘advanced’ students (as noted by prior performance) were noted to raise more topics in a given week, they were just as susceptible to ‘siloing’ the information as lower-performing students. Recommendations are made on the future use of CEs.

Exploration of Student Approaches to Creative Exercises in Undergraduate Biochemistry

“…More recent literature on creative exercises has seen a shift away from utilizing creative exercises as an individual assignment and have begun to incorporate them into classroom activities. − This transition to group activities was secondary to the focus of the prior study, but later publications would see the exercises as the focus of the paper. , Furthermore, later publications have also branched away from applying creative exercises as an intervention in introductory chemistry curricula. ,, This movement away from introductory chemistry led to two publications of creative exercises in biochemistry , and most recently their application in organic chemistry as well as inorganic chemistry. , …”

“…Quantitative methodologies have been relied upon to approach the study of creative exercises in the available literature. − ,,, This initial focus on quantitative analysis was intended to better understand the potential impacts on learning as well as to provide evidence that the exercises were eliciting the intended responses from students. − ,,,, One of the more recent studies in creative exercises provided a substantial investigation on the their impact on student performance and showed a significant improvement on test scores in a smaller class setting . The authors of the previous study argued that the lack of impact of the exercises on the larger course setting may have been due more to their application than the difference in settings …”

“…That said, a number of studies have also explored creative exercises from a qualitative lens. ,,,, Much of the current qualitative inquiries on creative exercises have centered around response analysis and open-ended surveys on student experiences of the exercises. ,,,, The exploration of student experiences with creative exercises in later studies was consistent with the earlier literature in that the exercises were generally viewed in a positive light, though students did note anxiety when first encountering creative exercises . As for the analysis of student responses, researchers found that students were linking prior knowledge with current topics which varied across the semester. ,, …”

“…16,18 Furthermore, later publications have also branched away from applying creative exercises as an intervention in introductory chemistry curricula. 10,18,19 This movement away from introductory chemistry led to two publications of creative exercises in biochemistry 10,19 and most recently their application in organic chemistry as well as inorganic chemistry. 18,20 Quantitative methodologies have been relied upon to approach the study of creative exercises in the available literature.…”

“…16 As for the analysis of student responses, researchers found that students were linking prior knowledge with current topics which varied across the semester. 11,16,18 While the literature on creative exercises has indicated that students do indeed link concepts through creative exercises and researchers have explored the types of concepts elicited, the process by which the students produce their responses has yet to be investigated. Not knowing how the students produce their responses to the exercises has been a limitation of the published works and has even led to the development of an additional activity to probe this concern.…”