Education pedagogy is composed of many different factors, one of which includes classroom arrangement. The arrangement can consider details as small as what types desks or tables are used and where they are placed. The two observed arrangements used in this study were described as “cluster” and “lecture”. Cluster describes arrangements where desks or tables are pushed together so students face each other, often in groups of four. Lecture describes arrangements where desks or tables are in rows facing one direction. The effect of using these arrangements on student performance in a two-semester undergraduate organic chemistry course using POGIL strategies was analyzed. The standardized American Chemical Society Organic Chemistry exam was used as a quantitative measure of student performance. In the Organic Chemistry I and Organic Chemistry II courses, both the average exam scores and average percentiles of the cluster arrangement had values equal to or greater than the lecture arrangement. Therefore, classroom arrangement appears to be a factor affecting student performance.

Effects of the physical arrangement of a classroom on student performance in a POGIL undergraduate organic chemistry course

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

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