Informing Student Support Mechanisms through Measurement of Student Confidence in Core Chemistry Topics
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29311/ndtns.vi20.4977Keywords:
Chemistry, School to University Transition, STEM, Student ConfidenceAbstract
To inform strategies for providing effective student support in the early stages of a chemistry degree programme, a longitudinal study of first year chemistry student confidence levels in core topics was conducted at three points over a one-year period. A student-staff team co-created a confidence matrix that was used as the basis of the study. Students were asked to rate their confidence level in each of twenty core chemistry skills on a three-point scale. Student responses were converted into a normalised confidence score for each individual and each skill. The initial collection of data (at the start of the academic year) showed that the lowest student confidence levels were in Physical Chemistry topics. There were statistically significant increases in confidence levels in half of the skills following instruction. Analysis of the data collected suggests that the ability of some students to engage with the metacognitive processes necessary to complete this type of reflective exercise may improve over the course of their first year of study.
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