Module Goal
This module's goal is to increase student scientific literacy and thereby increase student retention and performance in college math and science courses.
Module Overview and Description
This module teaches essential skills for achieving scientific literacy, is delivered via computer and contains both a pre and post assessment. Students will identify and solve proportional reasoning problems with applications in:
- Mathematics
- Chemistry (balancing equations, molarity problems, dilutions, etc)
- Biology (serial dilutions, genetics problems, changing concentrations of buffer solutions, etc)
- Other sciences
- Business (pricing, comparison shopping, etc)
Feel free to use these activities in your classes, perhaps by linking them in your Blackboard classes. Keep in mind they are available in English and Spanish.
There are 5 Reasoning Activities:
- Probability
- Correlation
- Control of Variables
- Nature of Science
- Proportional Reasoning
Module Needs Analysis
SMCC biology classes use inquiry science labs and many students fail to complete these classes or earn a passing grade. Providing one-on-one training with computer accessible modules available in both English and Spanish enables SMCC students to acquire proportional reasoning skills (in a convenient and widely accessible manner). These skills can assist them in their inquiry based science labs.
I’ve pre-tested SMCC biology students each semester for the past four years to measure their scientific reasoning ability.
- The pre-tests' mean score indicates less than 40% of my students are mature science reasoners, an essential skill for doing scientific inquiry, (Lawson, 1995).
- Furthermore, less than 50% of the students demonstrate proportional reasoning skills (one of five skills that comprise scientific reasoning).
Research has shown that proportional reasoning skill training results in:
- Higher retention and final grades in college biology (Lawson, A., 2003; Lawson, A., Banks, D., Logvin, M., 2006)
- Improvement in student retention and performance in other courses (Shayer and Addey, 1993)
Here Are the Materials for You to Use
This module contains Adobe Flash animated interactive activities that require students to “move gears, build walls, drop tennis balls”. Then, students see word problems converted into mathematical equations. Each activity gradually demands more of students' thinking processes and poses more difficult problems to solve.
The post-test is part of the module and it also begins with simple, less difficult items and progresses to more difficult, compelling items (contextualized with biology concepts).
Instructor Materials
Student Materials
Click the below links to access the activities for each topic.
Final Project Report
Click here to read my final report.