Hancock, LM and Hollamby, MJ (2020) Assessing the Practical Skills of Undergraduates: The Evolution of a Station-Based Practical Exam. Journal of Chemical Education, 97 (4). 972 - 979. ISSN 0021-9584

[thumbnail of Assessing the practical skills of undergraduates Article LMHancock Revisions Feb 2020.docx] Text
Assessing the practical skills of undergraduates Article LMHancock Revisions Feb 2020.docx - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial.

Download (411kB)

Abstract

Laboratory education is a defining feature of chemistry degree courses, with one of the fundamental aims being acquiring competency in a range of chemistry-specific practical skills, yet there are still limited reports of direct assessment of these skills. Here, we present the development, implementation, and evaluation of a station-based practical chemistry exam for first year undergraduate students. We have designed the exam to explicitly assess a range of practical chemistry skills that we highlighted as being essential for subsequent chemistry laboratory work in our degree program, including many final year independent research projects. Details are provided on the logistics of implementing this exam, which has run for cohorts of 50–120 and is suitable for cohorts of up to 200 students. Introducing the practical exam into our course has received positive feedback from both staff and students and has contributed to increased motivation to learn and retain practical chemistry skills.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: The final accepted manuscript and all relevant information regarding this information can be found at; https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jchemed.9b00733
Uncontrolled Keywords: First Year Undergraduate/General; Curriculum; Interdisciplinary/Multidisciplinary; Hands-on Learning/Manipulatives; Testing/Assessment; IR Spectroscopy; Quantitative Analysis; Thin Layer Chromatography; UV−Vis Spectroscopy
Subjects: L Education > L Education (General)
L Education > LB Theory and practice of education
Q Science > Q Science (General)
Q Science > QD Chemistry
Divisions: Faculty of Natural Sciences > School of Chemical and Physical Sciences
Depositing User: Symplectic
Date Deposited: 21 May 2020 13:39
Last Modified: 04 Mar 2021 01:30
URI: https://eprints.keele.ac.uk/id/eprint/7944

Actions (login required)

View Item
View Item