GROUP DYNAMIC AND ITS EFFECT ON CLASSROOM CLIMATE, ACHIEVEMENT, AND TIME IN LAB IN THE ORGANIC CHEMISTRY LABORATORY CLASSROOM

Abstract

Despite the many studies on the benefits of cooperative learning, there is surprising little research into how the classroom as a whole changes when these cooperative groups are reassigned. In one section of CHEM 3011 in Fall 2013, students were allowed to pick their partner and kept the same partner all semester. In another section during the same semester, students were assigned a different partner for every wet lab and were allowed to pick their partners during the computer simulation labs. The students in both sections were given the "preferred" version of the Science Laboratory Environment Inventory (SLEI) at the beginning of the semester to elicit student preferences for the class environment, and the "actual" version of the SLEI and the Class Life Instrument at the end of the semester to determine what actually occurred during the semester. The students' interactions were recorded using an observational instrument developed specifically for this project. The students' responses to surveys, interactions, grades, and time in lab were analyzed for differences between the two sections. The results of this study will be discussed.