Gail Green’s research while affiliated with University of the Witwatersrand and other places

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Publications (3)


Figure 1. Model for processing and reporting laboratory work.  
Figure 2. Action research cycle.  
Table 3 . Procedural issues arising from 1996 group.
Improving pre-laboratory preparation of first year university chemistry students
  • Article
  • Full-text available

November 2010

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1,162 Reads

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94 Citations

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Stella Zwane

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Mina Staskun

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Gail Green

This study uses an action research approach to investigate how different modes of pre-laboratory preparation contribute towards a fruitful laboratory experience for first year students on an access programme. We considered the experience to be fruitful if the students successfully acquired procedural understanding, communicative competence and were able to apply the conceptual understanding to make the purpose of the labs meaningful. A group of students was observed by participant observers during 1996. Data was gathered during laboratory sessions and from written pre-laboratory work. These data were analysed and changes were instituted in the running and conceptualization of the laboratory in the subsequent year. A group of students was again observed and data collected. Two important factors emerged from the analysis of the data. One finding was the importance of adequate student preparation for the laboratories, regardless of the mode of preparation employed. Another was that the ability to prepare depended on the conceptual and procedural understanding of the laboratory as a whole. Preparedness is also important if conceptual benefit is to be obtained from the practical experience.

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Table 1 Assessment of Cognitive Abilities Required in First Year Examinations of Different Courses
Table 2 Assessment of Cognitive Abilities Required in Answering Second Year Examinations
Let's stop complaining about low cognitive levels of testing in time-limited examinations: The case for fair testing practices

September 2007

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94 Reads

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4 Citations

South African Journal of Higher Education

This paper describes the process of determining cognitive levels of testing in first and second year university chemistry examination and emanates from a larger study in which explanations were sought for problems experienced by second year students in chemistry at the University of the Witwatersrand. A user friendly scheme for establishing cognitive levels of questions was developed and this was used to determine the cognitive level of questions in 25 different examination papers written over a period of three years. It was found that testing at both first and second year level was predominantly at level II (comprehension). Possible reasons for this finding are explored and justified.


The Role of Structure of the Discipline in Improving Student Understanding: The Case of Organic Chemistry

September 2006

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420 Reads

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21 Citations

Journal of Chemical Education

This article arose from interesting observations during a larger study where the focus was on the interface between two years of university chemistry. Locating the interface was not as straightforward as anticipated owing to differences in innate characteristics of the knowledge structure of various chemistry disciplines. This necessitated conceptualizing knowledge development as occurring in either a linear or branched fashion in any particular topic. Data used for identifying courses that students found most difficult revealed that scores in organic chemistry (a course which develops linearly) improved dramatically after an intervention by an instructor in 1998. This observation makes it possible to theorize about why an intervention had been so successful in this subject and setting. Keywords (Audience): Graduate Education / Research

Citations (3)


... The need for summative assessment is often justified by the requirements of accrediting bodies that insist on evidence of how prescribed exit level outcomes are assessed (Rossiter, 2013). Summative assessment is however often criticised for its limited capacity to assess different learning outcomes such as higher order thinking skills (Green & Rollnick (2007) and reasoning and creativity (Knight, 2002). In contrast, the purpose of formative assessment is to develop and improve student learning where the tackling of the assessment task itself is the learning experience (Scott & Fortune, 2013). ...

Reference:

Why lecturers in an engineering school assess the way they do
Let's stop complaining about low cognitive levels of testing in time-limited examinations: The case for fair testing practices

South African Journal of Higher Education

... However, some techniques are best illustrated by video and students find this a very useful way to construct a clear idea of what they will need to do in the laboratory. Some first year students have a very limited experience of glassware and general laboratory apparatus and seeing, for example, how to set up a Büchner filtration gives them confidence and saves them from having to ask a demonstrator who is then free to engage in much more productive activities with the students such as in-lab assessment (Rollnick et al., 2001b). Also contained within the DLM is a library of online tutorial material (much of it interactive) to assist students in their understanding of a range of analytical and spectroscopic techniques which they encounter in the laboratory. ...

Improving pre-laboratory preparation of first year university chemistry students

... Le domaine de la chimie organique joue un rôle primordial dans la promotion des avancées technologiques, il présente en fait une discipline fondamentale dans la plupart des programmes scientifiques universitaires. La complexité de ses concepts, l'ambiguïté de sa symbolique et le volume substantiel de connaissances rendent l'enseignement et 'apprentissage de la chimie organique difficiles (Agerbi, 2004 ;Lafarge, 2010 ;Green & Rollnick, 2006). En effet, le cours de chimie organique semble partager les problèmes habituels présents partout : une réputation de cours "tueur", une hyper-anxiété et une compétitivité excessive de la part de certains étudiants, ainsi qu'un refus obstiné de nombreux étudiants de croire qu'une approche basée sur la mémorisation serait fatale à long terme (Bradley et al. 2002, p.514). ...

The Role of Structure of the Discipline in Improving Student Understanding: The Case of Organic Chemistry

Journal of Chemical Education