At our home institution, one of the most diverse public universities in the United States, up to half of the students do not pass first-semester General Chemistry 1 (GC1). Passing GC1 with a C- or above is required to advance to General Chemistry 2 (GC2). Most STEM majors require two semesters of general chemistry, thus GC1 acts as a gatekeeper course preventing students from persisting in STEM. The literature suggests that there is a relationship between diversity of students and D, fail, withdraw (DFW) rates in STEM gatekeeper courses, leading to STEM disparities. Predominant forms of support for DFW-risk students focus on remediating their perceived deficits, ignoring the educational debt that historical, economic, moral decisions, and polices have created for systemically excluded students. In this study, we are shifting our focus to learning and building on GC1 students' strengths by designing, implementing, and studying an asset-based supplemental chemistry course. Student data in the form of interviews from the first three semesters of course implementation (spring 2020, fall 2020, spring 2021) have been collected and analyzed. Conjecture mapping was adapted as an analytical tool to examine student interviews for the purpose of understanding how students navigated success in GC1 and extracting salient features of the course's design. Interviews with GC1 instructors, care counselors, and advisors have been collected and analyzed to showcase how surrounding support structures at the university attenuate or diminish beneficial outcomes for students. Findings reveal supportive instructors, small class size, student collaboration, multimodal activities, study strategy activities are, among others, critical components of the course that lead to positive outcomes for students. Additionally, findings point to the need for culturally relevant practices and updated training for instructors and advisors. This work demonstrates how focusing on students' assets open new possibilities for supporting students' success.

Asset-based approach to supporting general chemistry students

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ACS Spring 2023

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