Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) Assessment Report
CHM 104 General Chemistry II – Fall 2011
prepared by Emmanuel Aouad, Course Coordinator for CHM 104
I.
Introduction
General Chemistry II (CHM 104) is the second semester of a two-semester course
sequence. It is a computationally intensive course in general chemistry intended for engineering,
chemical engineering, pharmacy, medical, and biomedical science majors. CHM 104 covers
selected topics in reaction kinetics, chemical equilibrium, acid-base eqilibria, solubility and
complex-ion equilibria, thermodynamics and equilibrium, electrochemistry and nuclear
chemistry and places emphasis on problem solving and applications to laboratory experience.
The purpose of this assessment study is to determine the level of student mastery of some of the
CHM 104 course goals and related measurable course performance objectives (MPOs). The
course goals of CHM 104 are as follows:
Course Goal 1: Use mathematical skills proficiently to rearrange equations, determine
significant figures, compute and round off numbers, and implement
scientific notation.
Course Goal 2: Demonstrate knowledge of the basic concepts of chemistry, which are part
of the general education required for many professionals.
Course Goal 3: Utilize critical thinking techniques to reason, listen, follow directions,
make observations, and draw conclusions.
Course Goal 4: Convey word problems to the appropriate mathematical language and
solve them quantitatively.
Course Goal 5: Apply proficient laboratory skills.
II.
Methodology
The Fall 2011 SLO assessment of CHM 104 examined student performance on one MPO
related to course goal 1, which is “discuss, interpret, and calculate reaction rates for various
chemical reactions.” A total of three multiple-choice questions related to this learning objective
were embedded on an exam. These three questions were selected from a standardized test bank
associated with the course textbook, General Chemistry, 9th edition, by Ebbing and Gammon,
which is a well-known resource. The exam was administered to all students enrolled in CHM
CHM 104 – 1
104 section 001, a class that was held during the day and taught by Dr. Emmanuel Aouad, a fulltime Chemistry professor at the College.
III
Results and Discussion
SLO assessment data collected on a total of 21 students enrolled in CHM 104 – 001 in Fall
2011 is shown in Table 1 below. All three questions were blueprinted to the MPO “discuss,
interpret, and calculate reaction rates for various chemical reactions.”
Question #
# of correct responses
# of incorrect responses
% correct responses
1
20
1
95.2
2
8
13
38.1
3
12
9
57.1
Total
40
23
63.5
The SLO data presented in the table above suggests the following:

Students performed best on Question #1, which is written below.
The oxidation of ammonia produces nitrogen and water based on the following
reaction: 𝟒𝑵𝑯𝟑 + 𝟑𝑶𝟐 → 𝟐𝑵𝟐 + 𝟔𝑯𝟐 𝑶. If the rate of formation of 𝐻2 𝑂 is 3.0
mol/(L.s), then the rate at which 𝑁𝐻3 reacts is:
A) 4.0 mol/(L.s)
B) 2.0 mol/(L.s)
C) 5.0 mol/(L.s)
D) 0.50 mol/(L.s)
NOTE: The correct answer is B, which 95.2% of the assessed students chose.

Students performed worst on Question #2, which is written below.
For the reaction (𝑪𝑯𝟑 )𝟑 𝑪𝑪𝒍 + 𝑶𝑯− → (𝑪𝑯𝟑 )𝟑 𝑪𝑶𝑯 + 𝑪𝒍− , it is found experimentally
that doubling the concentration of (𝐶𝐻3 )3 𝐶𝐶𝑙 causes the reaction rate to be increased
twofold but doubling the concentration of 𝑂𝐻 − has no effect on the rate. That rate
equation is:
A) Rate = 𝑘[(𝐶𝐻3 )3 𝐶𝐶𝑙][𝑂𝐻 − ]
C) Rate = 𝑘[(𝐶𝐻3 )3 𝐶𝐶𝑙]
𝑘[(𝐶𝐻 ) 𝐶𝑂𝐻][𝐶𝑙− ]
E) Rate = [(𝐶𝐻 3) 3𝐶𝐶𝑙][𝑂𝐻 −]
B) Rate = 𝑘[(𝐶𝐻3 )3 𝐶𝐶𝑙]2 [𝑂𝐻 − ]
D) Rate = 𝑘[(𝐶𝐻3 )3 𝐶𝑂𝐻][𝐶𝑙 − ]
3 3
NOTE: The correct answer is C, which only 38.1% of the assessed students chose.
CHM 104 – 2

57.1% of the assessed students chose the correct answer for Question #3, which is
written below.
The data at 25o C are listed below for the reaction 𝟐𝑨 + 𝑩 → 𝑨𝟐 𝑩.
Experiment
1
2
3
Initial Concentration (mol L−𝟏 )
A
B
0.20
2.0
0.20
4.0
0.10
2.0
The overall reaction order is: A) 1
B) 2
C) 3
Initial Rate (consumption of A)
(mol L−𝟏 s−𝟏)
2.8 × 10−5
5.6 × 10−5
1.4 × 10−5
D) 4
NOTE: The correct answer is B.

Overall, students responded correctly 63.5% of the time on the three questions
blueprinted to the course learning objective “discuss, interpret, and calculate reaction
rates for various chemical reactions.” Thus, this objective was only partially achieved
by the assessed CHM 104 students.
It is important to note that CHM 104 covers many important, difficult topics in a short
period of time and, therefore, is taught at a rapid pace. ECC students enrolled in this course
should have successfully completed CHM 103 (General Chemistry I), which is a prerequisite for
CHM 104. Even so, it seems that students enrolled in CHM 104 are usually not quite prepared to
learn the content of the first chapter covered in CHM 104 on rates of reaction. Anecdotally, it
takes students about three weeks to start settling into the brisk pace set by this course. In order to
alleviate this initial student unpreparedness, students are given pre-test questions that mimic the
exam questions in order to be ‘warned’ of the level of expectation of this course. Specifically,
students are encouraged from day one of the semester to practice these pre-test problems, which
will help bring them up to speed. To ensure that they are actually working on the pre-test
problems, a two-question, 10-minute quiz that uses problems from the pre-test booklet is given at
the beginning of each week. After the quiz, solutions to the pre-test questions are discussed in
class.
Once students make it to midterm, it appears that they have their bearings in the course and
are able to more clearly show proficiency in the ensuing chapters. Also, students must review all
material covered in CHM 104 for the cumulative final exam, which is comprised of questions
selected from each chapter/topic covered in the course.
IV. Conclusions and Recommendations:

This assessment study was very narrow in scope. It is recommended that student
performance on more MPOs related course goal 2 as well as other course goals be examined
in future assessment studies of CHM 104.
CHM 104 – 3

There are significant differences between multiple-choice questions and open-ended
problems in chemistry; i.e., multiple-choice questions sometimes contain extraneous
information as red herrings requiring students to discern and discriminate in the correct
approach to a solution. Open-ended questions on the other hand must be answered by
employing a series of logical, analytical steps that require synthesis of more than one single
concepts learned in the course. It seems that once students master this logical sequence of
steps used to answer open-ended question, they prefer these types of questions over multiplechoice ones. Therefore, it is recommended that in future CHM 104 assessment studies, the
blueprinted questions be expanded to include open-ended questions. This would, of course,
require the creation of a scoring rubric, which would allow the instructor to specifically
determine how well students are able to read and interpret chemical information and to
synthesize different concepts to solve a problem.

It is recommended that instructors integrate a technology-based student learning resource
such as MasteringChemistry (Pearson), CONNECT (McGraw Hill) or Owl (Cengage) into the
course. It is hoped that doing so will enhance student mastery of the subject material.
CHM 104 – 4