CEC FIPP Activity Report
Name Karla Coti
Date 11/19/2010
Department Mathematics and Science
FIPP Partner Holly Schumacher
Class title & section # Chemistry 20, 9185
Name of Activity/Strategy Personal Responsibility and Self-Awareness
Category: (Please select only one.) (Reminder: You will submit one report from each of
the categories.)
Classroom Activity
Classroom Environment
Classroom Expectations
Feedback & Evaluation
Homework & Out-of-Classroom Learning Experiences
Briefly describe the activity/strategy, providing enough detail so that a colleague can
replicate the activity/strategy.
1. Introduction After the first exam of the semester, 09/16/2010, in my Chemistry 20
Class we discussed the Late Paper in class. My objective was to introduce or
reinforce personal responsibility, self-awareness, and increase students' class
participation.
2. Set-up & Supplies I handed out an adapted version of the Late Paper from our
On Course workbook, where instead of Kim being a psychology student, Kim
was a chemistry student in Dr. Dalton's chemistry class.
3. Directions The students did a popcorn reading of the Late Paper as a classroom
activity. They were given five minutes to rank the characters' responsibility to
Kim's failing grade. Then they were asked to get into groups, according to their
first choice, and to build a case as to why the character they chose as their first
choice was the most responsible for Kim's final grade. They were given fifteen
minutes to discuss their case and then each group presented their case to the
class to convince everyone else that they were correct.
What worked well? The students really enjoyed this acitivity. To my surprise more than
90% percent of them said that Kim was the most responsible for her failing grade. Only
one student chose the professor as the most responsible person for Kim's failing grade.
During the class discussion, students were pointing out the different opportunities, or
the forks on the road, Kim had to make a different choice that would lead to a different
outcome. After the discussion, students were handed a sheet with different quotes, also
found in the On Course workbook. These quotes described personal responsibility and
how our successes are consequences of our choices and the person has control of their
occurrences.
What would you change? I would probably do this activity the first week of the semester
to set classroom expectation, environment, and introduce personal responsibility.
Would you use the activity/strategy again? Why or why not? Yes, I would use this activity
again. This activity was well received by the students. They enjoyed the class
discussion. I was happy that this activity reinforced personal responsibility and selfawareness.
Please describe any student learning and/or changes that you observed after the
implementation of the activity/strategy. No observable changes were detected after this
activity.