Formative assessment to teach math concepts in high school chemistry

Abstract

Calculations relating to unit conversions in high school chemistry typically pose difficulty for students. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of using consistent methods of formative assessment as daily check-ins to improve student success on this type of work as well as improve the overall score on the related college level unit exam. At the beginning of the unit students in the treatment group completed a pretest and survey to determine their skill level and comfort with unit conversions in chemistry. During the unit, these students completed a different type of formative assessment after each lesson to assist the instructor for how to prepare for the following lesson. After six lessons, students completed a posttest, survey, and college level unit exam. Students in the non-treatment group did not receive consistent formative assessment during the unit. From gathered data, students' comfort levels improved over the course of the study. Student achievement on the posttest was significantly greater than on the pretest and there was a noticeable increase in the overall percentage of students that earned a C or better on their college level unit exam. Where the non-treatment group had 70% of students score a C or better on the college exam, the treatment group percentage rose to a 76% of students earning a C or better on the same exam. This shows that intentional formative assessment does prove to be a useful tool to increase student performance on math-based topics in chemistry.