DESIGNING SEQUENCE HONOR COURSES:

COLLABORATIVE APPROACH TO TRANSFER A

STUDENT TO AN HONOR STUDENT

Sherry Heidary Vikul Rajpara

STEM (CHEMISTRY) Union County College, NJ

About General Chemistry I and II

• Science major courses (Biology, chemistry, engineering, etc.)

• Elective lab science for other non-science majors

• Learning objectives– Decision making ability– Critical thinking– Communication

Our Teaching Philosophy

• Different faculty, different teaching styles• Trusting professional relationship with

students• High expectations of students• Constantly challenge and assess students in the

teaching environment…• Advising (for near and distant future…)• How to connect to other students…

Freshman American Honors Students

• Traditional college students– Not ready for college level Honors course– They don’t have college level study habits

• Work of admission committee– Selection from the pool of applicants– Identifying and recognizing potential

Honors Faculty

• Expert in content-master teacher • Understand AH students ability and potential• Availability to students• Provide tools and techniques to be successful

in an Honors course • Prepare the AH students for their ‘Dream

School’

My First Honors Cohort• 20 students

• Traditional college students

• STEM majors

• My challenges regarding the first cohort

First Day of a Semester

• Know their majors, dream school, career goals, personal goals…

• Clarify the expectations for the Honors class • Making groups– 4-5 students– Naming a group– Group representative

Class Activities

• Semi flipped model• Less lecture and more discussion• Quizzes

• ACS style paper• Lecture presentations on assigned topics• Pre-lab presentations

Connecting With Students• Challenges

• Jerry, the pineapple • Break the bread • Constant reminders of their goals

General Chemistry I

Quiz

H.A.

Test

Lecture Final

Overall Grade

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0 90.0

General Chemistry I (Lab)

exam 1

exam 2

exam 3

Overall Lab Grade

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0 90.0

General Chemistry I

  Honors Honors Regular Regular  Total % Total %

Students Registered 20   102  

W Grade 0 0% 18 17.6%

Students Remained (retention) 20 100.0% 84 82.4%

A Grade 7 35.0% 17 20.2%

B & B+ 4 20.0% 27 32.1%

C & C+ 7 35.0% 12 14.3%

D & D+ 2 10.0% 15 17.9%

F & UF 0 0% 13 15.5%

Students Passed the course (Graduation) 20 100.0% 71 84.5%

Students Passed the course (with C or better) 18 90.0% 56 66.7%

Transfer from General Chemistry I to II

• 16 transfer from Gen Chem I to Gen Chem II• 4 from regular class • Class visits– Presentations

• Learn about their groups

Activities – Inside the Classroom

• Personalized groups (Naming the groups)• Group discussions• Team competitions • Group lecture presentations (rate them)• Preparing quizzes and grading them• Concept maps• Lab videos• Dr. Khan’s visit to my class

Activities – Outside the Classroom

• Honors lounge• Office discussions• One on one meetings• Visiting each other’s lab sessions• Stay in touch after the course is over (Organic

course)

Honors vs Regular Class• Average – Exam Grades– Quiz Grades– Average Final Grades

General Chemistry II

Quizzes

HW

Exams

Overall Lecture Grade

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0 90.0 100.0

General Chemistry II

ACS Exam

Lab Exam 1

Lab Exam 2

Lab Exam 3

65 70 75 80 85 90

General Chemistry II  Honors Honors Regular Regular

  Total % Total %

Students Registered 20   93  

W Grade 1 5.0% 10 10.8%

Students Remained (retentions) 19 100.0% 83 100.0%

A Grade 5 26.3% 12 14.5%

B & B+ 10 52.6% 29 34.9%

C & C+ 3 15.8% 15 18.1%

D & D+ 0 0.0% 12 14.5%

F & UF 1 5.3% 15 18.1%

Students Passed the course 18 94.7% 68 81.9%

Students Passed the course (with C or better) 18 94.7% 56 67.5%

How Are Students Benefitted?• Leadership skills (Jason’s example)– Drives the rest of the group

• Collaboration• Teamwork • Better understanding of the content• Communicating skills

Future Plans for Honors Courses

• No same assignments• Shuffle the activities between two courses • Focus on weak links and improve them• Continue our work with organic chemistry

professor• Stay in touch with students after they leave

Union County College• Bring them back to talk to future cohort

Conclusion• Connection between two faculty for sequence

courses• Know your students before they come to the first

day of the class• Be more involved with admission and orientation

of honors students• Shuffle the activities between two courses • Constant interaction with students and AH

advisors • Stay in touch with students