Reaching College Readiness (Fall 2009)
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Program or course(s): Introductory Chemistry/Basic Design (Art)
Instructor(s): Sara Lorenz/Nanqui You (Non-Sparks Faculty)
Academic period: Fall 09
P ART I: I NTEGRATIVE A SSIGNMENT
Overarching understanding goal(s) or throughline(s)
Using art, and the power of imagery, as a means to promote an awareness of chemistry across campus.
Generative topic(s)
On a daily basis you, as a student, are bombarded with images from advertising. How can you use similar techniques to create an image powerful enough to promote an awareness of chemistry?
Key understanding-based assignment
What will we ask our students to do to develop and demonstrate their understanding?
• Select an element from the periodic table and research their element in order to find a few "key" points of interest around which their poster will be based
• Communicate initial ideas and work collaboratively with basic design students in order to create an image (with little words) that reflects they "key" points they wish to convey about their element
• Display posters on the WWCC campus during National Chemistry Week
College Readiness Discipline #1: Chemistry Discipline #2: Basic
Goals Understanding Goals
Design
Understanding Goals
• Use and communicate knowledge of chemistry
• Work collaboratively in
N/A since this instructor was not part of the Spark groups
• Effectively communicate chemistry to a non-science audience (ex. art students
• Demonstrate knowledge of the periodic table by producing a poster and accompanying statement of a selected element
Grant and persons viewing the poster)
• Introduce some college level expectations
Assessment Strategy:
Reviewed and evaluated both the content and the composition of the poster.
Evaluated poster statements for accuracy, currency, and relevance.
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Reaching College Readiness Integrative Assignment Template (Fall 2009)
P ART II: T EACHERS ’ R EFLECTIONS
With respect to this topic and related assignments, I used to think…it would be easy to have students from two classes collaborate.
But now I think...there are certain challenges that need to be addressed. Specifically, I would have allotted more time for student to complete this project. There was some frustration from some students feeling that their posters did not turn out they way they wanted it to. This could have been avoided if students had more than a few opportunities to meet and collaborate on the design portion of this project.
With respect to students’ work on this topic and related assignments, I used to think…students would have a difficult time promoting chemistry, especially so early on in the first quarter of a three quarter sequence due to their limited knowledge on the topic and general apprehension of the subject matter
But now I think...having students approach this project from another discipline enabled them to alleviate some of the initial apprehension and provided them with the opportunity to become the "experts" of their element.
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