He called this theory Androgogy and it distinguishes between the learning styles of children and adults. It has been suggested that teaching for adults should focus on how they learn rather than the content (Kearsely, 1996) so student -centred activities, card sorts, group discussions, model building are effective tools to enhance learning. However, personal experience has found that adults vary in the type of activities they enjoy: many don't like practical work whereas others prefer not to prepare posters and at the start of the course, the majority really dislike presenting information to the rest of the class. As a result it is important to include a variety of different activities in lesson plans.
All learners need to know how they are progressing and what they have achieved, this is particularly so for adult learners. Feedback encourages and motivates learners and can be given formally or informally. Feedback in the form of comments/ suggestions for moving forward, have been more useful than a grading system, (Butler, 1988). I've also found that spot tests and quizzes can be successful motivators too, though this is usually more successful with the more motivated students.
There is a spectrum of student attitudes within classes of adult learners much as they are within classes of children and teens. There are those who just want to know what they need to do to achieve a pass and make minimal effort with homework, to those who are highly motivated, interested, complete work to a high standard and are well prepared for each lesson. The majority of the adult learners that I teach wish to study degrees in nursing at University, they are therefore very interested in the human physiology part of the course, but not keen at all on the more chemical parts such as the structure of proteins, fats, carbohydrates and the plasma membrane. As a result, students tend to close their minds to the chemistry assuming that it is not relevant to their course, despite being told that all biology is chemistry. Research has shown that chemistry is thought to be a subject that is difficult to learn ( ) for a variety of reasons, for example, the difficulty of visualising atomic structure, lack of confidence with mathematical skills, balancing equations. So it is necessary to ensure that activities are seen to be relevant to the courses the students will be moving on to in H.E. There should also be a foundation of knowledge. Fortunately, the Access to H.E. Chemistry course spans KS3-KS5 and so the students will build on their knowledge so that when they encounter the most difficult concepts they will have the knowledge and confidence they require.
The topic chosen for teaching was Green Chemistry. The cohort of students involved were 7 adult learners on the Access to HE course who had been studying Biology but who were also interested in taking the additional module of Chemistry to prepare them for Biochemistry/Biomedical Degrees. These students will return in the next academic year to study the Access to HE Chemistry module which as stated, covers KS3,4 and 5 topics. Green chemistry was chosen since the subject is topical, relevant and familiar to many students from various forms of media such as newspapers, tv, radio. The topic lends itself to active learning such as: group discussion, independent research and presentations. It also provides the opportunity to extend chemical knowledge and skills, e.g. balancing equations and catalysis. Though it must be emphasised that of the seven students six had not studied chemistry since school and the seventh member of the group has extensive knowledge of a rare genetic condition form which her son suffers and therefore reads papers at research level. So a group with mixed abilities, but all interested and motivated to learn. Lessons were taught at the end of the Biology syllabus and the seven students volunteered to take part in these extra lessons.
Students were given a questionnaire to determine existing subject knowledge at the beginning of the lessons and again at the end to ascertain if any learning had occurred. The students were also given a questionnaire that asked for the views of the students on the lessons (appendix I).
Access students study each subject once a week for three hours so lessons and lesson plans (Appendix II) are extensive. This has several advantages: there is time for students to process the information, for discussion, to help with problems encountered, reinforcement, assessment, and hopefully, substantial learning to take place. These lessons were taught when the students had completed their course and when their confidence and self-esteem had increased, when they had formed bonds with each other as classmates and had developed trust in the teacher, so this was an ideal time to introduce completely new information. However, it is always wise to be wary of introducing too many new things at one time as the new found self confidence can be fragile.
Results
It is unfortunate that the cohort of students willing to volunteer for extra lessons was so small this makes analysis of the data not statistically viable. A variety of teaching strategies was used to enhance learning. These included: paired activities, model building, assessment questions, independent research and presentations. I have found that when tackling new information adult learners are happier to work together initially, either in pairs or as a group. This increases confidence and in addition is very important in the exchange of knowledge.
Table 1 Differences between subject Knowledge before and after taught lessons
Question
No. Correct
Before Lessons %
No. Correct
After lessons %
% Difference
Name two types of renewable energy sources
86
86
0
Distinguish between the 'greenhouse effect' and global warming'
14
29
15
What type of radiation does the earth emit?
43
86
43
List the main greenhouse gases
57
100
43
Explain the effect of greenhouse gases in the lower layer of the earth's atmosphere
14
71
57
Explain why climate change is a problem
43
57
14
What is a catalyst?
100
100
0
What is a catalytic converter?
29
86
55
Where would you find the ozone layer?
14
86
72
Give the chemical formula for ozone
43
86
43
Table 2: Student Feedback Questionnaire- Results
Thinking about the chemistry lessons you have just undertaken, circle the word that most reflects your opinion.
%SA* % A %NA/D %D %SD
I found the topic interesting 14.2 42.8 0 28.5 14.2
I found the topic relevant to the course I wish to study 14.2 42.8 0 28.5 14.2
I could cope with the level of chemistry involved 0 28.5 42.8 28.5 0
I enjoyed the variety of activities 14.2 42.8 42.8 0 0
I would have liked some practical work 0 28.5 28.5 42.8 0
I found the assessment appropriate 0 71.4 28.5 0 0
I found the pace of the lessons too fast 0 28.5 14.2 57.1 0
The teacher was supportive and helpful 42.8 57.1 0 0 0
I found the lessons boring 14.2 0 0 0 85.7
I am interested in continuing with chemistry. 14.2 14.2 14.2 57.1 0
*SD=Strongly Agree, A=Agree, NA/D=Neither Agree nor Disagree, D=Disagree, SD=Strongly Disagree.
When constructing a questionnaire several factors should be taken into consideration: there should be a variety of difficult and easy questions; there should be breadth of questions to cover the whole topic and half the questions should be in favourable and half unfavourable. In addition, there should be a large number of questions to increase their reliability and cancel out the effect of questions that have been misunderstood. There should be a random arrangement of the favourable and unfavourable questions and, they should be tested for reliability. This can be achieved with item analysis such as Cronbach's Alpha using SPSS, Coolican (2009). Also questions should be worded very carefully to ensure that the student can give a clear answer and that there is no ambiguity. Once questions have been formulated, they should be piloted with a large sample of students (if possible).
Clearly, there is considerable effort in designing a questionnaire of student opinions especially if that qualitative information is to then be represented quantitatively. Most classroom teachers, myself included, have very little experience of the rigors of this type of research and with a very small cohort of students it is very hard to apply statistical analysis and so I've opted for the most basic of information of what percent of students respond to each of the categories. This is not rigorous analysis of the data in any way and it would have been helpful to have been given help with this kind of analysis. However, having looked at the questions asked in the opinions questionnaire (Table 2) the questions have many faults, there are too many that are weighted to the favourable, there are too few questions and they have not been piloted and analysed for reliabitiy. In addition I also think that on reflection the questions in the subject knowledge questionnaire are also faulty. Much more thought is required in the design of this type of questionnaire too. In fact, the results of each of these questionnaires tells me very little about learning and understanding the information or about how the students really feel about the lessons because I have no experience in interpreting the information acquired. How do you interpret the results. They can be converted into bar charts/pie charts but what does this actually reveal? The most effective information obtained was from the verbal feedback during and after the lessons, as their responses to my questions (For example: What do you think so far? How do you feel about writing chemical formulae? Does building the structure with molymods help?) has made me realise , on reflection, that the questions I asked during class as I was moving round the groups were much more informative. One student commented on how she enjoyed working in groups because each of their different skills and knowledge helped the learning of each other. Another student commented that 'a metal door roles down in my head when I see chemical formulae, but I like building the models because it helps me to see the structure in my mind'. One volunteer said ' I wish I hadn't stayed because I really wasn't interested, my brain has closed down, but I didn't want to let you down'. This is another factor with the responses to questionnaires, although they are anonymous, the students may bias their answers in what they think is your favour.
Overall, from a teaching point of view, though I think the topic was relevant to everyday life, I still felt rushed and that I had not prepared the students well enough. There was too much pressure to finish the Biology syllabus and complete all the assignments. I was nervous in the sense that I am a novice chemistry teacher, but confident about the activities for the students. It felt like my first day of teaching. I was so aware of wanting to choose my words carefully to make sure that I was giving the correct information that my input was probably less relaxed than normal. It is unfortunate that whilst being on the SASP course I have not also been teaching chemistry, that would have been much more helpful to me, as I really like to go straight back to the classroom from a course and try out what I've been learning that day.
On reflection, from this series of lessons I have learned that design and planning of questionnaires is a huge task for which I require the relevant training, but importantly that this should be part of the job, research-led teaching and learning, both in chemistry and chemistry education. That questionnaires, if developed properly can inform change in the learning; that student feedback is essential to give students ownership of the lesson and enhance teacher learning and that the design of worksheets is key to maintaining interest and achievement. Throughout the year I have been getting verbal feedback on the kinds of worksheets used in the Biology course. Many students like all the information they need to answer questions on the one page, others like to be able to relate information to previous work/ lesson and yet others prefer to research information independently and produce an essay. This feedback informed the design of the worksheets produced for the lesson. It is also important that students have prior knowledge which increases levels of success and gives them a foundation on which to build not only their knowledge but also confidence in their abilities.
Design and planning of lessons is vital in teaching and learning. Teacher input need not necessarily be in the form of a ppt presentation, it is much more preferable to get the students involved, holding hands to represent bonds, bending and stretching to represent how IR radiation is absorbed by greenhouse gases. Directed questions are also important, using How? and Why? to encourage higher order thinking. Teachers take planning and design for granted and it is only when asked to carry out research such as this that it becomes clear just how much needs to be thought about, in the classroom environment.
Discussion and conclusions
I would also have an animation of the greenhouse effect on the interactive white board as the students are coming into the classroom. This engages the students immediately and is an exciting way to start a lesson.
http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/earthguide/diagrams/greenhouse/
http://www.damocles-eu.org/education/Animation_about_the_greenhouse_effect_182.shtml
I particularly like the second website as there is a series of questions that students can answer after the animation. These are interactive in that they are 'drag and drop' answers. The lessons were relaxed and from my point of view friendly environment. The students seemed to enjoy the lessons but I'm not sure how much was learned. I think one of the problems was that as this was the end of term and voluntary the students knew that they did not have to remember anything for a test. I think that in that case it is much easier to mentally relax and even though you are motivated to learn there is not the need to think things through and problem solve. So learning would be at a superficial level not at the higher order level. After the lessons when asking for feedback, some students found the topic irrelevant and uninteresting; they were not really concerned about the greenhouse effect their interest was more for the physiology of the human body. In this respect it would have been more appropriate to find everyday examples of how the greenhouses effect affects individuals.
References
Butler, R. 1988. Enhancing and undermining intrinsic motivation: effects of task-involving and ego-involving evaluation on interest and performance. British journal of educational Psychology 56 (51-63)
Coolican, H. (2009). Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology. Hodder Education. London.
Gibbs G. 1988. Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods. Oxford Further Education Unit, Oxford Polytechnic;
Goodwin A. 2000. The Teaching of Chemistry: Who is the Learner? Chemistry Education: Research and Practice in Europe. Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 51-60
Kearsley, G. 1996. Andragogy (M. Knowles). Washington DC. George Washington University.
Knowles, M. 1970. The Modern Practice of Adult education: Andragogy vs. Pedagogy. New York: Association press.
