Profiles of First Year and Access Chemistry Students' Views of the Study of Chemistry

Abstract

This study makes use of a previously validated instrument to compare the views about the study of chemistry expressed by two different groups of chemistry students in their first year of study at university. One group was enrolled in an access course, while the other was a group of direct entry students. Six strands were explored in the questionnaire — attitudes to study, practical work, tutorials, lectures, language and, for the first group only, being on an access course. Quantitative findings showed similarities and difference between the groups, most notably that the access students were more positive in their attitudes towards tutorials, while direct entry students, being predominantly English first language speakers, were more positive about language. On the qualitative side, differences and similarities also emerged in the profiles constructed, which were found to be useful for planning future interventions.