EMBEDDING CREATIVE EXERCISES TO PROMOTE LEARNING-CENTRED EXPERIENCES IN CHEMISTRY TUTORIALS

Abstract

An ongoing universal challenge for chemistry education is combatting the historical “silo-ing” of content into distinct topics. One approach towards addressing this challenge is the use of open-ended activities and assessments to prompt students to access prior knowledge and connect concepts through the use of Creative Exercises (CEs) (Trigwell & Sleet, 1990). This study has adapted the CEs as described by Ye and coworkers (2019) to operate as a formative learning activity in first-year chemistry tutorials. Preliminary testing in 2018 anecdotally indicated students persisted in struggling to access prior or interdisciplinary knowledge when confronted with open-ended CEs. Reflecting on this experience, a longitudinal approach has been taken by implementing a portfolio-style approach to encourage students to build upon this through a semester. In addition to the portfolio addition, limited scaffolding being built to support tutors and students when undertaking tutorial CE activities. In this presentation, we will focus on the student-generated artefacts by analyzing the identified connecting concepts and provide insight into the next iteration of this study design for 2021.