Struggling Through P-Chem

I felt deflated after grading P-Chem exams this week. The class average was the lowest I’ve seen in many years. Some students aced the exam, as usual, and a number of students did better on this exam (#2) compared to their first exam. But most of them performed worse. My first thought: “Did I fail my students by not being stricter on the problem sets?”

One new thing I’m trying this year is to increase metacognition in my students assessing the state of their own knowledge. In my G-Chem classes I’m using take-home closed-book exams with accompanying annotations. In my P-Chem classes, the students annotate their problem sets. I thought this worked well in both my G-Chem and P-Chem classes last semester. I also thought it worked well in both classes earlier this semester. Until I graded P-Chem exam #2.

I’ve been teaching for a long time and I think my exams are well-calibrated from a summative assessment point of view. The average performance does not change very much over the years although when I have a smaller class size, the statistics occasionally skew one way or the other. Both my G-Chem and P-Chem classes were unusually small last semester. This semester they’re closer to the usual size. G-Chem seems to be going fine, but I’m worried about my P-Chem class this semester.

Besides the larger class size, there might be a number of other factors. For one, there’s a larger than usual crop of graduating seniors who waited to the last minute to take P-Chem. I’ve observed ‘senioritis’ over the years – P-Chem is sometimes not a high priority for these students, and I can accept that as an instructor. Another factor: A couple of years ago, we recently revamped the Biochemistry major so only one semester of P-Chem is required rather than two. (The Biochemistry majors now take two semesters of Biochem lecture rather than one.) Hence, when students show up in P-Chem 2, they’ve already experienced the shock of P-Chem 1. But exam #1 this semester showed the usual average performance compared to years past, so I’m not sure this is a factor. I might just happen to have an academically weaker crop of students. Or maybe a less motivated group. Or maybe folks who are just busier with other things. There’s a national biochemistry conference just beginning and student were preparing their research posters.

But the nagging thought I have is that by giving the students the solutions to the problem set as part of the annotation before they submit it, I have reduced their motivation to really struggle their way through the problems. Certainly, there are fewer students in my office hours this semester given the size of the class. That’s definitely a problem because P-Chem does not come easily to most. It requires the struggle. I’ve been banging on this theme throughout the semester. Every class I tell the students which problems they should work on before the next class, and make a point to connect material in class with what they will see on the problem set. I suspect that very few students have heeded my advice (given the reduced attendance in office hours). That being said, in previous years, the majority of students wait until the last minute to work on the problem sets before I had this annotation scheme anyway. I think the problem has to do with not struggling as much with the problem set regardless of timing. Starting late doesn’t help matters.

I considered changing the annotation rule and reverting back to the old system, but decided instead to remind my students both in class and in a detailed e-mail why it is important to keep up with the material and struggle through the problem sets. It’s easy to deceive yourself into thinking you know something when you really don’t, at least in a subject as difficult as P-Chem. I reminded the students of the learning recommendations on my course syllabus and why they were there. I tried to frame the issue in terms of making choices according to one’s priorities, and if doing better in P-Chem is a priority, one must put in the requisite work and struggle. That’s hard. No one likes the feeling of struggling. I tell the students what previous students have said about the importance of struggle.

As a teacher, I want my students to learn the material and be successful. I also want to treat them as adults and not force certain behaviors punitively through grades. I would like them to come in more to office hours so I can help them learn the material, but I’m not going to enforce it. In a sense, the students earn their grades. But by putting a bit more responsibility on the students to own their learning, they can make choices to avoid the struggle and thereby earn poorer grades. I feel like I’m in a dilemma. But at the moment, I’m sticking through my plan and not changing my class policies. We’ll see what happens on the next exam. Or hopefully even earlier, more students will struggle through the problem sets and come into office hours this coming week.