Creative Exercises are an open-ended student assessment technique where students are given a brief prompt, such as �a molecule of CH2O�. Students are then instructed to write as many statements as they can that are distinct, correct and relevant to the prompt and the course content. The intention is that Creative Exercises promote the linking of students' concepts within a course. This presentation describes an investigation into the use of Creative Exercises as an instructional means for learning about students' concept retention and uncovering student misconceptions. Creative Exercises were used as a regular student assessment in multiple first semester General Chemistry classes. Student responses were coded using an open-ended coding scheme with two raters. The resulting analysis provides evidence that students were successfully applying prior knowledge toward recently presented topics. In students' efforts to do so, novel student misconceptions were also found with implications on students' understanding of the limits of models. Resulting teaching implications will also be discussed.

Investigating student responses using an open-ended assessment technique to examine concept retention in General Chemistry

247th National Meeting (2014)

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