Available via license: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Content may be subject to copyright.
Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/muse.2014.2193
Social and Technological Sciences
Barajas et al. (2014)
http://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/MUSE/ Mult. J. Edu. Soc & Tec. Sci. Vol. 1 Nº 1 (2014): 69-82 | 69
The importance of knowing the starting level of
knowledge
R. Barajas, P. Saavedra, J. Albéniz, I. Carrillo*
Dpto. Química Industrial y Polímeros, E.U.I.T. Industrial, Universidad Politécnica de
Madrid, C/. Ronda de Valencia 3, 28012 Madrid, e-mail: isabel.carrillo@upm.es
Received: 2013-12-15; Accepted: 2014-01-28
Abstract
The aim of this work is to demonstrate the importance of the fact that from the
beginning of the course students and teachers identify what is the initial
knowledge level and the level that students must reach at the end of the course.
This is important for the student because it will demonstrate the importance of the
continuous assessment (Bologne methodology) and in the other hand, for the
teachers to know the initial level of their students. It can give influence to detect
deficiencies and solve them to a well ending course. This helps a lot to students
with an initial lack of knowledge of the subject. This study carries out specifically
in the Chemistry subject in the degree of Ingeniería de Diseño Industrial y
Desarrollo de Producto (Industrial Design Engineering and Product Development)
at Escuela Universitaria de Ingeniería Técnica Industrial (E.U.I.T.I.) of the
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM).
Keywords
Chemistry, teaching-learning, educational innovation.
Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/muse.2014.2193
Social and Technological Sciences
Barajas et al. (2014)
http://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/MUSE/ Mult. J. Edu. Soc & Tec. Sci. Vol. 1 Nº 1 (2014): 69-82 | 70
1. Introduction
“Chemistry is all around you” as you can see in the video of the same title (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Zl7MsXbag) about the contributions of Chemistry
at all areas of the society produced by The European Petrochemical Association
(EPCA), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) and International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry
(http://www.unesco.org/new/es/natural-sciences/science-technology/basic-
sciences/chemistry/international-year-of-chemistry/).
The chemistry is, in spite of non being an essential subject in secondary education,
absolutely important in all our surrounding living things. It has many applications in
other scientific areas, such as medicine, materials technology, pharmaceutical industry,
food industry, electronic industry, construction, environment,... It is necessary to point
out that chemistry subject at high school curriculum in the engineering area, is not
obligatory in 2nd course (ORDEN ESD/1729/2008). This fact joints with non-empathy
from students to chemistry and causes many of them to enter the University with an
almost non-knowledge of this subject. However in almost all degrees of UPM,
chemistry is a compulsory subject in all the industrial first year degrees area
(http://www.upm.es/institucional/Estudiantes/Estudios_Titulaciones/EstudiosOficialesG
rado).
Chemistry teachers of first-year engineering degrees of UPM have created a platform
called "Punto de Inicio" in the Virtual Campus (moodle), only for students enrolled on
their first time in the subject (https://moodle.upm.es/puntodeinicio/niv/login.php) and a
public one called Open Course Ware (http://ocw.upm.es/apoyo-para-la-preparacion-de-
Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/muse.2014.2193
Social and Technological Sciences
Barajas et al. (2014)
http://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/MUSE/ Mult. J. Edu. Soc & Tec. Sci. Vol. 1 Nº 1 (2014): 69-82 | 71
los-estudios-de-ingenieria-y-arquitectura/quimica-preparacion-para-la-universidad) for
the retaken students in order to solve the lack of chemistry knowledge in the previous
years.
The "Punto de Inicio" platform was created in the UPM to help students in basic
subjects like: mathematics, physics, chemistry, English and technical drawing, in order
to inform the student what should be the minimum knowledge needed to follow that
subjects. In this platform questions of different levels of difficulty and with multiple
choice options are proposed. All of them are offered in moodle and are free for all
students enrolled in the first course. Students can access from July after their enrolment
in the University. (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Image of the “Punto de Inicio” plataform.
Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/muse.2014.2193
Social and Technological Sciences
Barajas et al. (2014)
http://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/MUSE/ Mult. J. Edu. Soc & Tec. Sci. Vol. 1 Nº 1 (2014): 69-82 | 72
Our School Grade degrees have been introduced in 2010/2011 academic year and since
the first moment the student has been informed about the existence of this platform,
inviting him to use it. However, unfortunately, it has not got much participation.
Currently the E.U.I.T.I offers five degrees: Electrical Engineering, Industrial Electrical
Engineering and Automation, Industrial Design Engineering and Product Development,
Mechanical Engineering and Chemical Engineering. In its five undergraduate degrees,
first-year chemistry teachers have agreed to develop an initial diagnostic test of
Chemistry of the "Punto de Inicio" platform. This test was common to all students and
performed in their first day of class in September. In this paper the results achieved by
the degree in Industrial Design Engineering and Product Development are presented.
2. Methodology
Among the five degrees taught in EUITI, we have chosen the students of the degree in
Industrial Design Engineering and Product Development. These students enter in our
school with the highest cut-off mark in the PAU (Table 1), however, as they mostly did
not take chemistry on secondary school they generally have got less knowledge on it
(http://innovacioneducativa.upm.es/observatorio/ficha-estudio/informe-demanda-upm-
2011-12).
Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/muse.2014.2193
Social and Technological Sciences
Barajas et al. (2014)
http://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/MUSE/ Mult. J. Edu. Soc & Tec. Sci. Vol. 1 Nº 1 (2014): 69-82 | 73
Table 1. Scores required to enter the E.U.I.T.I’s degree programs. (Course 2012/13)
Grade in
Score
Electrical Engineering
8.378
Industrial Electronics and Automation Engineering
9.733
Industrial Design Engineering and Product Development
10.664
Mechanical Engineering
10.356
Chemical Engineering
7.907
To develop this experience, the "Punto de Inicio" platform has been used as a starting
point. When the student enters in "Punto de Inicio", he can carry out some
questionnaires, both to review and to know their level of knowledge. The questions
proposed in the Virtual Campus (moodle) tell the student what should be the minimum
level of knowledge they must have in chemistry in order to take the degree subject
(Figure 2a). It is interesting to remark that the issues proposed in "Punto de Inicio" are
classified into three levels depending on the grade of difficulty. Each question has four
possible answers to choose, obviously the response time is restricted once the quiz
starts, as it is shown in Figure 2b for the theme of atomic and molecular structure. The
student can pre-select the level of the test he wants to do and he can also make as many
quizzes as he wants as the questions are randomized and the possibility of doing it again
is minimal.
Nevertheless, as the application in moodle is little demanded by students, teachers of
first-year course in Chemistry of the five degrees taught at EUITI (UPM) agreed to
develop a diagnostic test including questions of the "Punto de Inicio” where wrongness
Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/muse.2014.2193
Social and Technological Sciences
Barajas et al. (2014)
http://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/MUSE/ Mult. J. Edu. Soc & Tec. Sci. Vol. 1 Nº 1 (2014): 69-82 | 74
do not subtract points in the final marks. The idea of use these questions is that those
students who had used the chemistry platform feel encouraged and motivated to see that
their work was being rewarded and, on the other hand students who had not used the
application will be feel invited to use it.
Figure 2. a) Image of the test of the theme of atomic and molecular structure.
b) Model of questionnaire.
Therefore, since the first day of class, after giving them the rules of the course,
explaining the schedule with instructional design and the planning of learning activities,
the students made the diagnostic test of previous knowledge of 20 questions. This test
was performed anonymously in the classroom.
An active methodology was applied along the course, consisting of: Cooperative
Actions (each two weeks group works tutored by the teacher) (Barajas 2008), Solving
and Delivery Problems (individual problems which are solved in the classroom by the
teacher or by a student), Individual preparation of two simple themes closely related to
Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/muse.2014.2193
Social and Technological Sciences
Barajas et al. (2014)
http://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/MUSE/ Mult. J. Edu. Soc & Tec. Sci. Vol. 1 Nº 1 (2014): 69-82 | 75
the initial summary, in these themes a number of very important questions are included
to focus the student on the relevant items, fixing the day to correct them in the class.
As chemistry is an experimental subject, students attend to Laboratory every two weeks,
trying to apply theory to practice. Likewise class settled test and exams are performed,
to establish their knowledge and to set goals along the course goals along the course.
The final exam, common to all students in the five bachelor degrees, takes place in
January.
3. Results
The number of students in Industrial Design Engineering and Product Development,
who performed the diagnostic test were 76 students. The test results were not very
satisfactory, as the 85.5% of the students who made it do not pass the test. The highest
average mark obtained by any student in the class was 8.21 (Figure 3).
The test results were reported in a few days letting them know the basic knowledge they
should have to follow the course. Therefore, in addition, in the first week of the course
students were given a sheet with the minimal knowledge that they should know from
their previous secondary school. Students should prepare a short work of these contents
in order to revise them and thus be aware of what they need to know to start and carry
on with the subjects, for example: Periodic Table of the elements, formulation,
stoichiometry, concentration units, etc. These contents would not be developed in the
classroom but if they have doubts they could assist to tuitions.
We have found that it has been very helpful to make students know their lacks in
Chemistry. Chemistry is based on symbols, formulas and terminology, if anyone is not
Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/muse.2014.2193
Social and Technological Sciences
Barajas et al. (2014)
http://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/MUSE/ Mult. J. Edu. Soc & Tec. Sci. Vol. 1 Nº 1 (2014): 69-82 | 76
aware of these things from its beginning, little or nothing can be done to understand and
learn the subject. Unfortunately, in our classrooms we have got a lot of students with a
great unknown in chemistry.
Figure 3. Number of correct answers in the diagnostic test
The above mentioned activities were scheduled and the time spent on each of them was
established based on the number of ECTS credits according to the subject academic
guidance. In Table 2, the credits dedicated to the different activities in Chemistry are
shown and also compared with other subjects in the same semester of Degree in
Industrial Design Engineering and Product Development
(http://www.euiti.upm.es/EUITIndustrial/Estudiantes/EstudiosTitulaciones/ETTitulosGr
ado/ETTitulosOficialesGrado/GradIngDisInd/a9c9d51cf6069210VgnVCM10000009c7
648aRCRD).
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
% Students
Mark
Diagnostic Test 2012-2013
Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/muse.2014.2193
Social and Technological Sciences
Barajas et al. (2014)
http://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/MUSE/ Mult. J. Edu. Soc & Tec. Sci. Vol. 1 Nº 1 (2014): 69-82 | 77
Table 2. Number off credits dedicated in each basis subject of the first semester
Calculus
Linear
algebra
Physics
I
Chemistry
Technical
drawing and
computer aid
design
Theory
1.2
1.2
1.2
1.2
0.6
Problems
1.2
1.2
1.2
1.2
1.2
Laboratory
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.6
1.2
Personal study
2.8
2.8
2.8
2.8
2.8
Exams
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
Total Credits
6
6
6
6
6
After the implementation of the plan of studies, teachers that tutors the different subjects
have been requested to check the credit number of it. Finally, it was established, that it
was very similar to the initially proposed number of credits (Table 2) [10].
In order to confirm the previous data of Table 2, students have been pollen about the
ECTS measurements. For this purpose, a survey was done, asking students the number
of credits that had been used to study each subject making the different activities of it in
the first semester (see Table 3).
Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/muse.2014.2193
Social and Technological Sciences
Barajas et al. (2014)
http://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/MUSE/ Mult. J. Edu. Soc & Tec. Sci. Vol. 1 Nº 1 (2014): 69-82 | 78
Table 3. Number of ECTS credits of student work, in his opinion, for each subject of
the first semester.
ECTS
Calculus
Linear
algebra
Physics
I
Chemistry
Technical
drawing and
computer aid
design
Total
credits
According
to plan of
study
6
6
6
6
6
30
According
to students
5.9
5.8
7.0
6.8
6.3
31.8
Comparing Table 2 and 3 shows that ECTS applied to each subject and work for their
development are well dimensioned. The discrepancy observed in the chemistry subject
could be due to the low level of knowledge of the students. This fact implies that
students should make a greater effort in chemistry than in other subjects to achieve the
required level at the course effort to achieve the required level at the course.
The total number of students enrolled in the subject was 106, Table 4. It is interesting to
remark that not all of them have followed the ongoing assessment, because as it is
established in the course’s teaching guide
(http://www.euiti.upm.es/EUITIndustrial/Estudiantes/EstudiosTitulaciones/ETTitulosGr
ado/ETTitulosOficialesGrado/GradIngDisInd/a9c9d51cf6069210VgnVCM10000009c7
648aRCRD) students can chose exclusively for a final exam in January to pass the
subject. However, 96.8% of the students who attended the final exam have followed the
ongoing assessment. The data demonstrate low absenteeism rate obtained in the current
Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/muse.2014.2193
Social and Technological Sciences
Barajas et al. (2014)
http://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/MUSE/ Mult. J. Edu. Soc & Tec. Sci. Vol. 1 Nº 1 (2014): 69-82 | 79
academic year (7.55 %) (Table 5), it is interesting to observe that only 2.8% of those
following the ongoing assessment give up.
Likewise, better results have been achieved over the previous year as it is reflected in
the efficiency rate (42.45 %) and the success rate (45.92 %) (Table 6). Both rates are
improved if we compare the results achieved by students enrolled in the course by first
time, which are those that mostly follow ongoing assessment, reaching a success rate of
50% on first examination. Most of the students belonging to this group are those who
performed the diagnostic test at the beginning of the course, since students that fail
chemistry the year before and repeat it incorporated to the class later.
Table 4. Students of chemistry of the degree in Industrial Design Engineering and
Product Development
Enrolled
Not presented
Presented
Faillers
Passed
Continuos assesssment
94
3
91
47
44
Give up ong. ass.
12
5
7
6
1
Total
106
8
98
53
45
Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/muse.2014.2193
Social and Technological Sciences
Barajas et al. (2014)
http://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/MUSE/ Mult. J. Edu. Soc & Tec. Sci. Vol. 1 Nº 1 (2014): 69-82 | 80
Table 5. Percentage ratio between the number of absent students and the number of
students enrolled in the course
Nº enrolled students
Nº absent students
Absenteeism rate
Once
64
5
7.81
Twice
31
1
3.23
Three or more times
11
2
18.18
Total
106
8
7.55
The fact of reaching the 50% in the rate success students that study this subject by the
first time and remembering that only 14.5% of them pass the diagnostic test pleases and
encourages us to continue working in this direction for the future academic years.
Table 6. Percentage ratio between the number of passed students and the number of
students presented on their first time and resitted.
Nº of attemps
Presented
Passed
Success Rate
Once
60
30
50.00
Twice
24
10
41.67
Three times
9
2
22.22
Four times
5
3
60.00
Total
98
45
45.92
Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/muse.2014.2193
Social and Technological Sciences
Barajas et al. (2014)
http://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/MUSE/ Mult. J. Edu. Soc & Tec. Sci. Vol. 1 Nº 1 (2014): 69-82 | 81
4. Conclusions
The results achieved during the development of this course are very encouraging. The
purpose of this project is that a student at the beginning of the course be aware of his
knowledge level and provide him appropriate tools to learn forcing him to study more
deeply the concepts that he did not understand. In single words, he will make a better
distribution on his study time and work. This also allowed teachers to have a better
planning of student workload emphasizing the non-clear concepts. Furthermore, the
calculation of ECTS credits from the students fits well with the one proposed by the
teachers, although students’ appreciation were slightly higher. Despite the students’ low
level of knowledge in chemistry shown in the diagnostic test, the workload of the
student was well sized and did not suppose them an enormous extra work. Obviously
those students with lower level have had to study harder.
Acknowledgements
This work has been supported by the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid in the frame of
the Education Innovation Project Nº IE12_13-56002.
References
Albéniz, J. Saavedra, P. Barajas, R. Carrillo, I. (2008) Actas de INCECE’08 II Jornadas
Internacionales UPM sobre Innovación Educativa y Convergencia Europea 2008,
Supuesto de consumo de profesores para propuesta de nuevo plan de estudios y
estimación de los ECTS que deberá cumplir el profesorado a tiempo completo, Madrid.
Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/muse.2014.2193
Social and Technological Sciences
Barajas et al. (2014)
http://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/MUSE/ Mult. J. Edu. Soc & Tec. Sci. Vol. 1 Nº 1 (2014): 69-82 | 82
Barajas, R. Carrillo, I. Albéniz, J. Reinoso, C. Saavedra, P. (2008) Actas de 16 Congreso
Universitario de Innovación Educativa en las Enseñanzas Técnicas (16º CUIEET),
¿Cómo inducir a los alumnos al estudio a través de una acción cooperativa?, Cádiz.
ORDEN ESD/1729/2008, de 11 de junio, por la que se regula la ordenación y se
establece el currículo del bachillerato.