Classroom assessments have the potential to change classroom practices by providing instructors with information about students' understanding of course content as well as about students' affective experiences with a course. In this study, we examined students' chemistry self-efficacy throughout a semester in a preparatory college chemistry course for science majors. At many universities, preparatory chemistry courses are designed for students intending to major in science who are not prepared or who do not feel prepared to enroll in a college general chemistry course. Since chemistry self-efficacy has been defined as a student's beliefs about his or her own capability to perform a given chemistry task, one might expect a successful preparatory chemistry course to lead to increases in students' chemistry self-efficacy as well as increases in content knowledge. In this study, students' chemistry self-efficacy was measured several times during a semester using a subscale of the Chemistry Attitudes and Experiences Questionnaire (CAEQ). A multilevel modeling analysis was performed using a growth curve model to examine changes in self-efficacy across the term, including the potential for differences by sex and race/ethnicity. Implications for instructors of preparatory chemistry courses and for departments that have implemented preparatory chemistry courses will be presented.

Assessments of the affective domain: Self-efficacy within a college preparatory chemistry context

246th National Meeting (2013)

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