Tutoring Condition as a Predictor of Student Success in College Preparatory Chemistry

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Tutoring Condition as a Predictor of Student
Success in College Preparatory Chemistry

• John C. Deming
• Mark S. Cracolice
• Department of Chemistry
• The University of Montana

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Roadmap of Talk

• Zone of Proximal Development
• Tutoring environment
• Method of study
• Description of events
• Research findings

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Zone of Proximal Development

• Ability Range
• Lower bound
• What a learner can correctly complete without
  assistance (I.Q.)
• Upper bound
• What a learner is unable to complete, even with
  assistance
• Teaching strategies should target this zone or ZPD

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Research Question

• Is ZPD tutoring more effective than traditional
  tutoring in developing students chemistry
  content knowledge?

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Tutoring Research

• Traditional tutoring
• Tutor thoroughly explains process to student
• Drawbacks (Chi et al. 2004)
• Tutors have difficulty diagnosing students
  correct and incorrect conceptions
• Overestimate actual true knowledge
• Underestimate incorrect knowledge
• Tutors failed to address specific student
  deficits 52 of time (only recognized deficits
  63 of time)
• Tutors (using methods of choice) are unable to
  customize their assistance to the needs of
  students

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Tutoring Groups

• Conditions
• Didactic tutoring (traditional)
• Student presents problem, tutor illustrates how
  to solve the problem in a stepwise fashion
• Directed to describe the thought processes
  involved at each step in the solution
• ZPD tutoring
• Follow ZPD tutoring protocol

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Tutoring Groups

• Tutor selection
• Tutors were selected from solicited applications
• Assigned tutoring condition was determined by
  matching each tutors description of an ideal
  tutoring environment with the closest tutoring
  match
• Tutor training
• Tutors received two hours of training before
  start of semester, and had formal weekly meetings
  with principal investigator to alleviate
  concerns, address tutoring practices, etc. as
  well as informal meetings individually as needed
• Control and treatment meetings were at separate
  times

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Method

• Subjects
• Selected by convenience
• Undergraduates enrolled in remedial chemistry
  course
• Number of students initially included was
  determined by initial enrollment (N 74)
• Variables
• Content knowledge and reasoning ability
• Targeting the amount of change

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Method

• Instrumentation and materials
• California Chemistry Diagnostic Test (CCDT)
• Chemistry knowledge and algebra skills
• Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning (CTSR)
• Scientific thinking skills described by Piaget

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Research Design

• Autumn semester 2005
• Pretest-posttest control group design with random
  assignment

Group Tx O-----R-----XT-----O Group C
O-----R-----Xc-----O
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Design
Sort Using CCDT
Random Assignment
Break Ties using CTSR
Control
Treatment
Rank Students
Tuesday lecture/ Thursday tutoring
Thursday lecture/ Tuesday tutoring
Pair Students
80-minute lecture (same both days) 30-minute
tutoring
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Procedure

• Tutoring sessions
• Each student assigned 30-minute session on
  tutoring day
• Eight tutors were able to tutor 1.5 hours per day
• Two students assigned to each session and were
  paired by pretest scores to maximize the
  likelihood of similar tutoring needs
• Students were graded on participation and
  preparation for the sessions by tutors

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Content Knowledge Assessment

• Nine weekly quizzes, three midterm exams, one
  final exam
• Quiz questions written by previous course
  instructors
• 75 of exam questions were written by previous
  instructors
• Remaining questions were written by current
  instructor and focused on conceptual questions
• All materials, including lecture notes and
  handouts, were provided to all students
• All quizzes and 75 of every midterm exam were
  graded by a former class tutor hired as an
  undergraduate grader

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Comparison of Chemistry Content Knowledge
n 12 due to pair removal
p 0.046
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Discussion

• CTSR gains
• Treatment was too limited to result in
  significant CTSR gains during same semester
  (treatment group showed gains at the 87th
  percentile relative to control)
• 360 minutes of tutoring for 15-week,
  three-credit course
• Content knowledge gains
• ZPD tutoring resulted in significantly greater
  gains in knowledge than traditional tutoring

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Changing The Focus...

• Modify teaching strategies
• Target conceptual understanding
• Insure students obtain assistance within their
  ZPD
• Tutor training
• Help students form connections between concepts
  for robust generalizations

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Acknowledgments

• The University of Montana Chemistry Department
• Chemistry tutors
• john.deming_at_umontana.edu