CEC FIPP Activity Report
Name Karla Coti
Date 10/13/2010
Department Mathematics and Science
FIPP Partner Holly Schumacher
Class title & section # Chemistry 20, 9185
Name of Activity/Strategy Success Teams
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 During the discussion and lecture time of this Chemistry 20 class,
students work in groups of four to five on soliving problems on the material that
was either recently covered in lecture or the material that was covered during
the week (if they are working in groups during the discussion section). After the
alloted time the problems are discussed on the blackboard as a class.
2. Set-up & Supplies The students are grouped into groups of 4 to 5 students. Two
to three different problems are assigned per group. Students are given 20 to 30
minutes to work on the problems as a group. The students that understand the
material better than the other students, are asked to explain it to the rest of the
group members. If a group completes the problems that were originally
assigned to them, then they are asked to work on the other problems that were
assigned to the other groups. After the alloted time, I explain and work the
solutions to the problems on the board, with the guidance from the groups.
3. Directions Break the class into groups of four to five students. Assigned each
group a set of two to three different problems. Give them 20 to 30 minutes to
solve the problems. Work out the problem set on the board with the help of
each group.
What worked well? From the first day of class, I immediately observed a sense of
comradery, interdependence, and belonging as the students worked in groups. The
students that understood the material better do explain it to the ones that do not fully
understand it. It also provided a safe environment for those shy students to ask
questions to their collegues or myself. After the first week, the students had their
success teams and I overhead several groups forming study groups outside of class to
study for their first exam.
A survey was adminestered during the third week of class to evaluate the effectiveness
of this activity to the student's success and their retention of the material; 28 students
completed it with the following findings:
1. Helped me understand the material or topic - 8 Strongly agreed and 16 Agreed
2. Increased my interest in the material or topic - 8 Strongly agreed and 15 Agreed
3. Kept me actively involved in the material or topic - 9 Strongly agreed and 16 Agreed
4. Helped keep my attention in the material or topic -10 Strongly agreed and 13 Agreed
5. Will contribute to my success as a student in this class - 13 Strongly agreed and 11
Agreed.
The following positive comments included the following:
Great Job!
All students are left with a good understanding of all [the] work.
[The activity] is helpful because we have to apply the learned info immediately following
the lecture topic
Group activities [are] helpful because [the] student learn form [other] students as well.
What would you change? I need to improve this activity so that all of the student feel
actively engaged in it. From now on, I may ask the students to assign a representative
so they can work on the problems infront of class. The students in the group will
alternate on being the representative.
Would you use the activity/strategy again? Why or why not? Yes, I might modified a bit so
all the students are actively engaged.
Please describe any student learning and/or changes that you observed after the
implementation of the activity/strategy. Studnets formed study groups since the first
week of class and they get together outside of class to work on homework and study for
their first exam.