A Letter to my Students

In a post last week, I mentioned reading three books (Elizabeth Green’s Building a Better Teacher, William Deresiewicz’s Excellent Sheep, Randy Olson’s Don’t Be Such a Scientist), that pushed me to think about significantly reconstructing my chemistry class next semester. Green encouraged me to think much more carefully about how to construct class activities that really lead to deep learning in the students. Deresiewicz prompted me to think carefully about de-emphasizing grades, and Olson reminded me of the importance of learning how to communicate science. (It can be taught!) Olson's book also prompted me to start this blog and try to practice communicating science and education without the "incomprehensible" style and jargon I would use when writing a scientific peer-review manuscript.

On the one hand, making a major overhaul to my second semester General Chemistry course really excites me. I will be teaching the Honors section so I will have some very strong students, most of whom are likely good at doing well in the traditional science classroom. On the other hand, this is going to be a LOT of work! It doesn't help that I'm also department chair and starting up a new research project. I will also be taking on some new undergraduate research students in my lab, and my research has a little bit of a learning curve.

Anyway, after some hemming and hawing, I finally decided to take the plunge and commit to at least making a stab at an overhaul. I have written a letter to inform the students who will be registering into my course over the next week or so. I posted it today so it's now "out there"! I hope to keep blogging about the experience, and maybe in some mysterious way this will help me to persevere and not give up mid-way through.

Here's my (slightly edited) letter:

Dear students,

I would like to do something different in [Honors Chemistry] this coming semester. First let me tell you what I typically do (and what you see in most science classes in most universities).

First, I have a typical syllabus: You can see the syllabus from the last time I taught this course in Spring 2012. The bulk of the class grade comes from exams (85%) and based on the grading scale and numerical scores on all the assignments, you can be aware (or worse, hyper-aware) of your grade at any time.

Second, the coverage of the material typically follows the sequential presentation of the textbook. There are many good reasons for this, i.e., topics do build upon each other, Mastering Chemistry assignments follow the textbook topics, you are given "comfortable" textbook reading (or what I refer to as "pre-packaged or pre-digested" concepts, facts and problems). This however can result in a certain rigidity to the class that often does not correspond to how you will tackle important and complex questions in the "real world". (You can see that I already tried a few integrative topics in 2012 but they only took 2-3 class periods.)

Third, although my classes are quite interactive with lots of back-and-forth question and answer between you and me, as the instructor I am the one who talks the most during class. (You can verify this with anyone who has taken a class with me.) What this means is that I learn the material best. Yes, it's true. The person who is "forced" or "volunteers" to articulate and explain the material (right or wrong) is the one who internalizes it best.

Therefore I would like to propose we try something different for this class because I think it will help you to learn better and you might find it more interesting. It might also mean a bit more work on your part because you may not be used to having more open-endedness in your science classes. (It will definitely be more work on my part.) Here is my proposal:
 
First, I would like grades to be de-emphasized and for exams not to count for the bulk of your class grade, but to instead build in significant group and project work. Individually you will still need to understand the material. Therefore there will still be the typical final exam (maybe worth ~25%). Instead of the typical "midterm" exams, I will give you take-home exams where you find a 55-minute block outside class and do the exam under "exam conditions". I will score the exams but they won't count towards your final grade. (This way you will know whether you do understand the needed course content and how to prepare for the final exam.) For your other assignments (which will come in various forms including problem solving, quizzes, group projects, reflective writing), I will assess them, but instead of writing a score/grade, I will just provide written comments. You will always be welcome to come by my office individually and discuss how you're doing in the class grade-wise if you're worried, but I hope you won't need to. (I will also let you know how you're doing in the course at a few key points during the semester.) I will always be open to suggestions and expect to solicit your opinion about which assignments will be the major ones

Second, I would like to leave the rigidity of the textbook and instead mix-and-match different material, including bringing in significant source material outside of the textbook. (We will still use the textbook for some of the basic oncepts.) You may not be accustomed to this initially, but I think that approaching the same topics with an integrative lens centered in real-world complex problems will be much more valuable to you than the sequential follow-the-textbook scheme. This will push you and me out of our comfort zones. In particular, some of our class sessions may seem "messier" and less organized as we venture into studying the material in a more complex and messier context. My previous students will vouch for me being super-organized as a professor, but it will be more difficult to do this in our more fluid (rather than rigid) classes. The idea makes me nervous (in a good way), though I think the experience will be valuable in the long-term for all involved.

Third, I will be asking you and your classmates to take the lead in discussing the material. I'm sure I will still talk a lot, answer lots of questions, ask you lots of questions, and the like. But I want the focus to shift away from me, the professor, as the "sage on the stage" to the "guide by the side". The best way to learn is to take charge of your own education, and I hope to instill in you the desire to be a life-long learner and to help you start doing this in college. For some of you, having this responsibility will push you out of your comfort zone, but I think the long-term benefits are well worth it. After all, you came to college to learn, and I became a professor to help you in this endeavor.

If you have any questions or concerns you'd like to discuss you are welcome to stop by my office. My weekly timetable can be found on my website.