COURSE PREPARATION ASSIGNMENTS: A TOOL TO ENHANCE INDEPENDENT LEARNING, INCREASE STUDENT PARTICIPATION, AND PERFORMANCE IN CHEMISTRY COURSES

Studies have shown that the more ownership students take of their academic work, the greater the level of information retained, knowledge acquired, and general cognitive development. Many teaching techniques that span across sciences, and go beyond standard techniques such as: merely lecturing at students or following written procedures for “cook book-style” laboratory experiments, have surfaced in the last decade. One such method, known as Course Preparation Assignments (CPAs), requires students to read and analyze course material prior to attending class. This approach gives students their first exposure to new content outside of the classroom, while also engaging them in responding to a series of questions that they must answer individually. This prior exposure to course material allows the students to not only complete written assignments with the incentive of earning points, but also forces them to reflect on what they are learning. Prior to adopting the CPA teaching practice, I discovered that very few of my chemistry and biochemistry students completed the reading and homework problems until a few days prior to an examination. Each class or unit that includes a CPA follows a predictable pattern which students adjust to quickly: Read – Think –Write/Draw/Calculate – Discuss the course content. The impact of incorporating CPAs into undergraduate Analytical Chemistry and Principles of Biochemistry lecture courses will be described from this instructor’s point of view. In addition, the advantages and challenges of utilizing this teaching approach at a Primarily Undergraduate Institution, within classes made up of 8-45 students, will be described. Furthermore, the development and use of CPAs for teaching various Chemistry courses, the leading and facilitating of course discussions in class, the grading of assignments, and student perceptions of the approach will be discussed. Indeed, the pedagogical approach generally promotes timely completion of assignments, helps create a more interactive classroom setting, encourages students to ask more questions, facilitates involvement in discussions all of which result in an improved ability to think and reason critically.


Introduction
Chemistry has a more quantitative focus than social sciences, biology, and many other disciplines.Therefore, many pedagogical approaches and classroom working practices utilized in other disciplines must be modified and customized to better suit the needs of chemistry instructors and their students.In addition, problem solving is an essential component of the physical sciences including chemistry.Also, chemistry courses continue to evolve over time with the course content and popular textbooks eventually more closely reflecting the concerns, research findings, technology, and sophistication of modern society.
Meanwhile, some factors such as enthusiasm of the instructor for the subject matter being taught seem to be a universal and a critical component in teaching chemistry and other courses successfully (Sigga, 1970;Marsh, 1977;Marsh, 1980;Young & Shaw, 1999;Patrick et al., 2000;Kunter et al., 2008).Instructor enthusiasm has been defined as the extent to which students perceive the instructor's ability to display enthusiasm, energy, humor, and to hold their interest (Marsh, 1980).In recent research on teacher behaviors, instructor's enthusiasm was found to be the most powerful unique predictor of students' intrinsic motivation and vitality in a course (Patrick et al., 2010).
The biggest hurdle in adopting any new instructional technique has to do with how confident teachers feel about using teaching approaches that are different from how they were taught.In addition, student evaluation scores, which play an important role in determining faculty promotions as well as rank and tenure, often decrease when new instructional methods, especially those that shift the focus from the instructor to the student, are introduced.Student-centered teaching style emphasizes student engagement in learning with less emphasis on "coverage" of concepts by the teacher through lecture or other student-passive means (Bunce 2011).This teaching approach appeals to many learning styles, generally includes multiple assessment measures, and is often cooperative.Decay of knowledge is generally expected to be less in courses where student mastery of concepts and student engagement are emphasized (Bunce 2011).It has also been suggested that instructional techniques should be matched closely with the learners' characteristics, learning styles, and interests in order to maximize the effectiveness of teaching and learning processes in addition to increasing students' motivation level (Hofstein & Walberg, 1995).
Motivation may be defined as the internal state that captures, directs, and sustains student behavior in achieving goals (Glynn 2007) or in connection with student's motivation to learn as student's tendency to find academic activities worthwhile (Bunce 2011).Teachers' working practices continue to evolve over time as students and society change.
A recently popular approach across various disciplines of flipped, (or inverted) classroom in its broadest sense may be thought of as having "events that have traditionally taken place inside the classroom now take place outside the classroom and vice versa" (Lage et al. 2000).
However, despite the name and the simple definition, the flipped classroom teaching approach goes beyond merely re-ordering of classroom and at-home activities.The flipped classroom can also be thought of as "an educational technique that consists of two parts: interactive group learning activities inside the classroom, and direct (computer-based) individual instruction outside the classroom" (Bishop & Verleger 2013).I will describe a recent instructional approach called Course Preparation Assignments (CPAs) which I have found to be effective in Analytical Chemistry and Biochemistry courses offered at a private, primarily undergraduate institution in the United States.The approach combines studentcentered teaching with more traditional methods of teaching chemistry such as problem solving and emphasizing critical thinking.This approach also includes aspects of flipped classroom teaching style.The video lectures outside of class that are often associated with flipped classroom are replaced by reading assignments from the textbook or journal articles followed by problem solving and critical thinking that are done by students individually prior to attending class.

Course Preparation Assignments (CPAs)
In the past, Course Preparation Assignments (CPAs) have mostly been used in teaching undergraduate social sciences and business (Yamane, 2006).However, since chemistry is a quantitative physical science where problem solving plays a key role, modifications had to be made to the idea of the CPA teaching tool as utilized by faculty in non-science disciplines.To my knowledge, I am the first to introduce this teaching approach to chemistry and biochemistry courses.The CPA approach seems particularly beneficial in chemistry subdisciplines that involve a significant amount of reading, such as Analytical Chemistry (including Instrumental Analysis, Quantitative Analysis, and Bioanalytical Chemistry & Biosensors courses) and Biochemistry.
Prior to adopting the CPA teaching practice, I discovered that very few of my chemistry and biochemistry students completed the reading and homework problems until a few days prior to an examination.As most instructors agree, repeated exposure to new material over longer periods of time and when presented in a logical progression, results in better learning outcomes.The working space, the conscious part of our mind used for information processing, is finite and most people are only able to process and store a limited amount of information in a given time (Johnstone, 2000).In order to store newly introduced information after accepting it, most people look for clear attachments in their long term memory on which to affix the new knowledge (Johnstone, 2000).If we try to learn too much information at once, learning may become faulty or will not take place at all (Johnstone, 2000).This is because the mind becomes overloaded and information processing shuts down.Therefore, studying primarily in the days leading up to an examination does not provide students with the learning outcome that will allow them succeed in a course or allow them to retain that information for cumulative final examinations or later discipline-specific standardized examinations.The CPA instructional technique facilitates the learning and retention of new information as it provides an additional, first exposure to the course material before it is even covered by the instructor and discussed in class.
As has been suggested before, lecturing to students may not be the most effective or time efficient way to cover course content (Bunce, 2011).Merely presenting the information to the students does not necessarily translate into students' understanding and learning the material.As visualized in the Cone of Learning, the more involved the students are in the learning process, the longer they seem to retain the information taught (Dale, 1969).For instance, most students remember 90% of what they say and do versus only 20% of what they only hear or 50% of what they hear and see (Dale, 1969).The nature of student involvement in instructional approaches, such as CPAs, is more active than in lectures, as it includes reading, thinking, and writing, discussing and explaining course content rather than the passive verbal or visual receiving that occurs during a traditional lecture.I believe the active nature of student involvement in learning by using CPAs, is the main reason for the increase in final examination scores and overall course grades that I have observed since incorporating CPA use into my teaching style.CPA approach in teaching will now be discussed in more detail.
The CPA approach is more student-centered than the traditional lecture-followed byhomework assignments completed by students outside of class.With the CPA approach, the ownership of learning is placed first and foremost on the students (Yamane, 2006).CPAs require students to read and analyze the course material prior to attending class, thereby giving the students their first exposure to new course content outside of the classroom (Yamane, 2006).Each class or unit that includes a CPA follows a predictable pattern that students adjust to very quickly: Read -Think -Write/Draw/Calculate -Discuss the course content.In my classroom, I include a detailed description of the CPAs, their purpose, and related course procedures in the course syllabus, and discuss it with each new group of students at the beginning of the semester.CPAs also offer additional practice problems which the instructor can place in an interesting and relevant context, while tailoring the difficulty level of the calculations to the abilities of each student group.The assignments are often designed in such a way that they may be quickly graded by the instructor or a Teaching Assistant based primarily on completion or attempt.Although it is more time consuming, points are taken off for incorrect answers to questions that can easily be answered based on the assigned reading.The ultimate objectives of the CPAs are to facilitate informed class discussions, to perform higher order reasoning, provide intellectual stimuli, use limited class time more effectively, and to respond to students' most commonly asked questions as a whole during class.

Implementation of the CPAs in chemistry courses
Regardless of the specific course, I typically assign CPAs for every new chapter/major topic.
Students turn in one copy of the CPA at the beginning of class that will later be graded and keep a copy that will be amended during our class discussion.

Classroom interaction and the role and responsibilities of the instructor
The CPA approach forces the instructor to go beyond merely lecturing to the students and When I first started using the teaching approach, there were 5 or 6 CPAs in any given course during a 15 week semester.I wanted to try the approach with students to see if it would be effective in chemistry courses as all the previous reports related to CPAs had been from humanities or business faculty members.Nowadays, I may have as many as 10 CPAs in a 15 week semester which significantly increases the amount of time spent grading the assignments.Therefore, frequent use of CPAs is easier in courses that have fewer students and having a knowledgeable and dependable teaching assistant to help with grading the CPAs becomes necessary with the larger courses.In addition, planning and writing the CPAs and the corresponding answer keys can be time-consuming for the instructor.The assigned questions or calculations must also be modified or re-written from year to year because students may gain access to course materials through students who took the course in the past.Ideally, the assignments should be posted or distributed about 5-8 days before they are due in class to allow enough time for students to read and think about the questions prior to writing their responses.This requires a few weeks of planning ahead on the instructor's part.
In addition, the instructor has to read the assignments in detail and work through the accompanying questions and problems because the questions which students ask during class are often in-depth and may be related to information only briefly touched upon in the reading assignment.In short, the instructor has to be well prepared for each class that uses the CPA approach.The instructor also has to be vigilante for and correct any student misconceptions as well as partially correct answers that may arise during class.For these reasons, the CPA teaching approach may be easier to adopt for instructors who already have a few years of experience teaching the course in which they plan to implement CPAs.
In my experience, the CPAs have resulted in more effective use of class time and have changed the way my students study for the course.Rather than waiting until few days before a quiz or an examination, most students keep up with the course material on a weekly basis.
A few students even indicated that the CPA approach has influenced how they study for other

Student assessment of the CPAs and their learning gains
Second, third and fourth year university science students in Analytical Chemistry and Biochemistry courses that I teach regularly have adapted well to the use of CPAs.Feedback and student perception of the teaching approach was assessed using Student Assessment of their Learning Gains (SALG), a free instrument, now used by over 10,000 instructors and originally developed by Elaine Seymour in 1997 with support from the National Science Foundation (USA).The SALG instrument (available at http://www.salgsite.org/),which is easy to customize by the instructor and provides valuable statistical information as well as anonymous written responses, asks students to examine and report on their learning, and on the degree to which specific aspects of the course had an impact on that learning.As a result, regular collection and analysis of SALG survey data at the end of the semester has improved the effectiveness and use of CPAs in the courses I teach as well as in other aspects of the courses that are assessed by the survey that I designed such as course notes, the textbook, the Teaching Assistant, and examinations.The students' feedback has mostly been very positive.Also, the students have even requested that CPAs be used more often, which is something I have gradually been doing in a majority of the courses I teach.
The open-ended student responses below reflect their thoughts about the CPAs.These formative assessments were done at the end of each semester between 2013 and 2014.
Although qualitative, the responses give some idea about the student satisfaction, effectiveness of the assignments, and perceived impact of CPAs on student learning.The students in Analytical Chemistry courses were asked in the SALG surveys: "Please comment on how the CPA activities helped your learning."The Instrumental Analysis course includes qualitative and quantitative characterization using modern instrumental techniques such as mass spectrometry, chemical separations, and spectroscopy.Until about the 1970s classical chemical analysis typically involved the study and measurement of relatively small organic molecules (drugs, pesticides, industrial chemicals, radionuclides, explosive residues etc.) or metal ions.Much has changed since the 1970s, therefore textbook content and instructors strive to keep abreast of the continuous improvements in instrumentation capabilities as the technology becomes more sophisticated and automated.Most of the current instruments are modular, benchtop "boxes" that, after sample introduction, quickly generate useful data as either numbers, tables, spectra, or graphs.Given the more compact designs of newer instruments these days, most students most likely no longer observe individual instrument components which characterized older models during laboratory experiments.As the instruments and instrument operation culture have changed significantly, many faculty members have expressed concerns that our undergraduate students are becoming mere "book readers and button pushers".Therefore, many students find having to learn details such as instrument components, their specific functions, and instrument diagrams in lecture class somewhat tedious and boring.Indeed, Instrumental Analysis requires greater memorization of details than perhaps any other course related to analytical chemistry.However, I find that it is very important for students to read the textbook regularly, and sometimes before topics are covered in class, in order to develop a working knowledge of instrumentation.In fact, the CPAs force students to read their textbook more often.Some of the students in Instrumental Analysis did not enjoy the CPA pedagogical approach as much as students in other courses that I teach.However, this was also the first course where they were introduced to the CPAs.Despite this, their grades on the cumulative final exam as well as overall course grades improved since I started using CPAs in the course.

Sample Comments from Students
A  The vast improvements and developments in the instrumental analysis methods during the recent decades has led to the rapid expansion of bioanalytical chemistry which in turn has led to major progress in proteomics and genomics.In addition to easy-to-use bench top instruments that allow computer controlled analysis of biological samples, there are also many inexpensive, commercially available test kits based on robust and clever assay designs.
Bioanalytical chemistry is a rapidly evolving and highly interdisciplinary area of chemistry that provides interesting contexts for learning analytical chemistry.For example, it has applications in medicine, forensic science, pharmacy, engineering, industry, materials, national defense, nanotechnology etc.Since Bioanalytical chemistry is constantly evolving as a discipline and the course is not offered annually, the use of primary literature as reading material for the course rather than textbooks makes sense.As many students are not accustomed to reading primary literature when they take my course, the CPA approach helps them develop the ability to locate relevant information in the journal articles, ascertain the main purpose and novelty of the study, and to think critically about whether conclusions drawn by authors are supported by the data presented.As one student recently stated in a SALG survey: "The CPAs helped my learning tremendously because without (it) I wouldn't be able to figure out the key ideas of papers, after a while it got easier to interpret the articles and it helped increase my analytical skills for the exams."Students ask more questions, participate in discussions more frequently, and develop improved thinking and reasoning skills.The CPA teaching approach appears suitable for various analytical chemistry courses and also improves student learning outcomes.In addition, the CPA teaching approach has not adversely affected my student evaluations, unlike POGIL which I had used in certain courses in the past.I am also utilizing the CPA pedagogical approach in teaching Principles of Biochemistry, a one semester course that has a significant amount of reading and requires memorization of certain key content.It has been well-received by the students and I have also observed an increase in cumulative final exam scores and course grades since its introduction in Biochemistry.Overall, it has been my experience that the CPA approach seems promising and effective in several subdisciplines of chemistry.However, its use often requires a significant time commitment from the instructor especially during the first few semesters of its implementation.The instructor must also get students to "buy into the idea" in order for the teaching method to generate optimum results.
transition from instructor-to student-centered learning in a course.The use of CPAs generally creates a more discussion-based and interactive classroom environment where the input and opinions of the students are valued.Ideally, the CPA questions are discussed collectively as a class on the same day they are due which is also when students remember what they read and thought about while working on the assignment.However, sometimes the timing does not work out perfectly as the assignments are posted in advance and the discussion may happen during the next class period.The instructor's primary role during class is to facilitate discussions while going over sections of the CPA, ask related questions that may be more in-depth, and provide additional explanations, additional examples or clarification when required.
courses.For example, one student stated that "The CPAs have made me become a much closer reader."Another student wrote: "It has helped me learn that studying a little bit all the time will help me keep caught up."Many students have also verbally expressed to me that they like the structure that the assignments have provided for the courses as each class that includes a CPA follows a predictable pattern: Read -Think -Write/Draw/Calculate -Discuss the course content.Written student feedback was collected over four semesters using the Student Assessment of their Learning Gains (SALG) instrument.The open-ended student responses below reflect their thoughts about changes in classroom interaction as a result of the CPAs.The students in Analytical Chemistry courses were asked in the SALG surveys: "Please comment on how the CPA activities have affected the classroom atmosphere and your participation during class." measurement technique, data analysis, presentation of results, and validation of procedures are also included.However, there is limited time to cover the entire content as presented in the textbooks, therefore the instructor must utilize class time effectively by choosing the class content and lab experiments carefully.The use of CPAs has allowed me to use the limited class time more effectively because students are introduced to the topics and theory as part of their reading assignments before having a formal discussion in class.I also include quantitative and qualitative problems from other disciplines where analytical methods are commonly used such as agriculture, biology, cosmetics industry, clinical chemistry, forensics, food and beverage analysis, quality control, environmental science, and pharmaceutical industry which also serves to expose the student to applications of quantitative analysis concepts and methods in other science disciplines and industry.A summary and ratings of student assessed learning gains related to the use of CPA in Quantitative Analysis course is provided below.This course is for students completing a degree in Chemistry, Chemistry Secondary Education or Clinical Lab Science.Under Class Activities category in a SALG instrument, the students were asked "How much did each of the following aspects of the course help your learning?"The anonymous ratings were provided by 15 student volunteers who completed the course in 2013 and 2014.A numerical rating scale from 1-5 was used to answer the questions.Response of 1 = no help; 2 = little help; 3 = moderate help; 4 = much help; and 5 = great help.Mean responses, standard deviations, and modes for each question are included in the evaluation summary.

A
summary and ratings of student assessed learning gains related to the use of CPA in Bioanalytical Chemistry and Biosensors course are provided below.Most students taking this course are Chemistry majors or choose the course as an upper level elective for completing a chemistry minor.The anonymous ratings by 5 volunteers were provided by students who took the course in 2014.Under Class Activities category of SALG instrument, the students were asked "How much did each of the following aspects of the course help your learning?"Mean responses, standard deviations, and modes for each question are included in the evaluation summary.

3 Conclusions
Course Preparation Assignments provide students with the first introduction to new course content before discussion in class.The students read the textbook on their own, think about a series of questions related to what has been read, and answer these questions in writing.In addition to providing the students with additional exposure and repetition of the material they are expected to learn, they become active participants in class and tend to become more reflective of what they are learning.Most students respond well to CPAs and enjoy the structured classes since CPAs follow a predictable pattern of Read -Think -Write/Draw/Calculate -Discuss the content.Also, the instructor becomes more of a facilitator or a discussion leader during class time as the atmosphere is more interactive.
I participated every time.Sometimes I was wrong, but that was no big deal.That's the best way to correct something that is wrong.""I participate often in class discussions.The atmosphere is very open and friendly and this helped me participate more in discussions more than I would in other courses." "One of the good things about the CPA was the class discussion.When no one talks in class besides the instructor the class gets to be boring, so I think the CPA was a good way to keep us engaged and paying attention."" The more times students are forced to go over the material before the test, the better they'll do.CPAs and quizzes were efficient and fair ways to accomplish this.They weren't tedious, but were helpful." "They helped in that they made me stay up to date in the class.I was also able to understand the content in class more."""Quantitativeanalysis courses are mostly based on practical hands-on methodology, but also include certain modern electroanalytical instrumental analysis methods such as amperometry and voltammetry.The instructor generally attempts to find a balance between modern and classical course material, theory and application, and method development versus providing students with detailed procedures in the lab.As stated earlier, problem solving is an essential component of these courses.Concepts such as experimental design, sampling, sample preparation, knowledge of capabilities and limitations of each

Table 1 .
Summary of CPA assessment using SALG instrument in Quantitative Analysis courses Spring 2013 & 2014 summary and ratings of student assessed learning gains related to the use of CPA in Instrumental Analysis course are provided below.Of note, most students taking this course are completing a degree in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Biology, Chemistry, Chemistry Secondary Education, Clinical Laboratory Science or Health Sciences.This course is also required for any students pursuing a minor in Chemistry.Under Class Activities category of SALG instrument, the students were asked "How much did each of the following aspects of the course help your learning?"The anonymous ratings were provided by 42 student volunteers who completed the course in 2013 and 2014.Mean responses, standard deviations, and modes for each question are included in the evaluation summary.

Table 2 .
Summary of CPA assessment using SALG instrument in Instrumental Analysis courses Fall 2013 & 2014.A numerical rating scale from 1-5 was used to answer the questions.

Table 3 .
Summary of CPA assessment using SALG instrument in Bioanalytical Chemistry & Biosensors course Fall 2014.A numerical rating scale from 1-5 was used to answer the questions.Currently, I am utilizing the CPA pedagogical approach in teaching Principles of Biochemistry, a one semester survey course that has a significant amount of reading and requires memorization of certain terminology, definitions, structures, theories, and other content.I have included examples of CPA questions in the appendix for this paper from the previous semester.In addition, the SALG instrument for the course was recently completed and used for the first time.I am also in the process of developing more CPA questions and discussion topics for use in the course.