Strategies to prevent cognitive overload: A team-based approach to improving student success and persistence in a gateway introductory chemistry course

Before Spring 2013, the student success rate of a gateway chemistry class at Ivy Tech Community College, Central Indiana hovered at 50%. To improve student success rates, all aspects of the class were examined, including core objectives, laboratory type and content, and the way class time was used. After reviewing the curriculum, we found large discrepancies in the amount of content covered in the various sections, with some instructors overwhelming their students with content not included in the core objectives, and other instructors who struggled to clearly connect lecture and laboratory. We implemented a class format based on The Study Cycle concepts presented by Dr. Saundra McGuire in her book "Teach Students How to Learn". Curriculum revisions enabled faculty to deliver well-focused lectures with access to supporting practice problems, and laboratories that connected clearly with each week's learning objective. By making strategic structural changes to the class, yet still relying on a lecture-based format, we maintained a success rate in the low to mid sixtieth percentile. In Fall 2016, some sections introduced active and cooperative learning, which led to a steady improvement in the overall success rate to 75% in Fall 2018. Factors that remained constant during this timeframe included class sizes, an urban student population and the use of adjunct faculty only as course instructors. We attribute the improvement in student success and retention not only to curriculum and pedagogy modifications, but also to the mindset of the instructors, who worked as a team, felt ownership for the program, and were supported by their administration. © 2019 American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.