| Description |
The goal of the Atwood group is to improve student success in general chemistry at the University of Utah. To accomplish this goal, we created a system of pretests that allows students to practice before the actual exam and analyze their pretest scores to assess their ability prior to taking an actual exam. We developed a method to analyze an individual student's proficiency on the topics that make up a test utilizing Item Response Theory (IRT). This had not been done previously at the individual student level. We used this information to provide students with feedback on where to focus their studies. We hoped that the combination of extra practice, the opportunity for students to check their own progress and detailed feedback would result in improved outcomes on the exams. After implementing this pretest system, equated student abilities on the midterm exams increased significantly compared to the previous year when the pretest system was not in place. The particular effect of the topic feedback was also studied by comparison with a control class but results were inconclusive. |
