Instituting a group component to a final exam

Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-020-02471-5 ABCS OF EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN ANALYTICAL SCIENCE Instituting a group component to a final exam Thomas J. Wenzel 1 & Emily D. Niemeyer 2 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020 Introduction Most college courses culminate in a final written exam that students complete individually for a grade. The final exam often has a cumulative portion as well as questions on topics covered since the previous in-term exam. Whereas in-term exams are given back to the students with feedback so there is the potential for the students to rectify misunderstandings, final exams typically do not provide an opportunity for such feedback. We have often had students visit our offices wanting to see how they performed on the final exam, but their primary concern is usually what grade they received and not a desire to understand topics where they lost credit on the exam. It seemed unfortunate to us that the final exam could not serve as a final learning opportunity for students as well as an evaluative opportunity for instructors. In an attempt to alter this situation, we have both instituted a group component to the final exam in some of our courses (Fig. 1). Since each of us used a different format for the final, we will describe both of our approaches herein. Separation Science course The undergraduate analytical chemistry curriculum at Bates College consists of two courses, one titled Separation Science, and the other Analytical Spectroscopy and Electrochemistry. The first half of the Separation Science course is a rigorous coverage of chemical equilibrium. The second half is a * Thomas J. Wenzel Emily D. Niemeyer 1 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Bates College, Lewiston, ME 04240, USA 2 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Southwestern University, Georgetown, TX 78626, USA thorough coverage of fundamental aspects of chromatography including different categories of liquid chromatography (steric exclusion, ion exchange, high performance) and gas chromatography. Other aspects of analytical chemistry such as statistics, sampling, sample preparation, method validation, and the need for standardization are covered in the laboratory associated with the Separation Science course and an advanced level Measurement Laboratory course. The structure of the Separation Science course is highly collaborative. Students are assigned to groups at the beginning of the term and work together every class period on worksheets that develop the topics being covered [1, 2]. Students also work in groups in the laboratory on a semester-long project that is carried out with a chromatographic method. Therefore, students have a lot of experiences working collaboratively with their classmates by the time of the final exam. The use of these in-class worksheets on equilibrium and chromatography has been previously described [3]. Materials used for the equilibrium [4], chromatography [5], and laboratory components [6] of the Separation Science course are freely available to others through the Analytical Sciences Digital Library under the Creative Commons Copyright. The final exam for the Separation Science course is 2 h long and is a comprehensive evaluation of the chromatography unit. Prior to the inclusion of a group component, the final exam consisted of questions that spanned the range of cognitive levels within a learning taxonomy such as Bloom’s taxonomy [7, 8]. Some questions were lower level items that could be answered through memorization. Others required them to apply knowledge (e.g., prediction of retention order; prediction of effect of experimental changes on peak broadening, resolution, and analysis time; selection and justification of the best variable to alter to improve resolution of overlapped peaks). Students previously used the 2-h period to complete individual responses to the questions. Use of a group format for the final exam was adopted in 2018 and repeated in 2019. I talked with the class in advance to let them know that there would be a group component of the Wenzel T.J., Niemeyer E.D. Traditional final exam • Number of questions selected to completely fill exam time slot • Questions span a range of cognitive levels Final exam with group component • Reduced number of questions selected to partially fill exam time slot • Focus on higher order questions • Exam contains individual and group components Students complete exam individually Graded by instructor Students complete exam individually Graded by instructor No opportunities for instructor or peer feedback Students work in groups on exam question(s) Groups present answers to the class Provides multiple opportunities to rectify misunderstandings Class discusses answers and students reach consensus Instructor provides oral feedback and grade Fig. 1 Summary of a traditional final exam versus a final exam with an added group component final. Also, I described my reasons for using a group component of the final and how the process would work. One was my desire to use the final exam as a last chance for them to better learn the material we had covered in the chromatography portion of the course. The other was my belief that at some point in their future careers, they would participate in a situation where a group of people charged with solving a problem or deciding a future course of action would need to discuss options and reach a final group decision. The group component of the final would give them practice at reaching consensus. With the group component, I reduced the number of questions on the final exam and only included higher level questions. Students were given 1 h to work individually on the exam and turn in a set of written answers for grading. These grades counted for half of the total grade on the final. The class, which each year has had 12 students, was then divided into three assigned groups. Groups were constructed to have students of differing abilities based on their prior exam scores and my in-class observations. Each group was given a third of the questions on the exam and had 15 min to write short answers to their questions on a section of the board. I then picked a question and one or more members of the group with that question had to explain their answer to the class. The class had to discuss the question and eventually arrive at a consensus answer to submit to me for a grade. I tried to maintain a blank expression during the discussion so as to not indicate whether the discussion was on the right track. Once they had submitted an answer, I let them know whether it was correct and why it was either correct or incorrect. Because of the challenging nature of the questions, in both years, the group grade has always been higher than any of the individual grades but neither class got a perfect score. A gratifying observation has been the robust discussion that has taken (...truncated)