For reasons well grounded in educational research, collaborative learning in its many expressions is becoming increasingly popular in US college classrooms. However, a large proportion of students do most of their learning outside the formal environment of our classrooms and laboratories—<i>somewhere else</i>—and away from instructors’ direct supervision and influence. Preliminary results of study habits at a large, urban, public, research-intensive institution in the US showed that 87% of students enrolled in General Chemistry 1 did most of their unsupervised learning individually. Similarly, more than half of the Physical Sciences majors who completed the US National Survey of Student Engagement in 2012 ‘never’ or ‘only sometimes’ worked with classmates outside of class to prepare assignments. Understanding situational factors such as where, when and how students learn general chemistry and what considerations lead to these decisions can be informative to design instruction that is consistent with their study habits. In a first stage this study intends to develop and administer a simple survey to gather information about general chemistry students’ study habits. Subsequently, this study compares and contrasts study habits in general chemistry student populations from the US and Costa Rica. It is a truism that social and cultural aspects influence learning environments. Nonetheless, a large proportion of chemistry professors in Costa Rica have obtained their graduate degrees abroad and their instructional practice may reflect their graduate experience. In addition to comparing and contrasting students’ study habits, this collaborative international study will explore instructors’ instructional practices in the two countries.

General Chemistry study habits and instructional practices across borders

249th National Meeting (2015)

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