An Exam Wrapper Intervention in Organic Chemistry I: Impact on Course Performance and Study Behavior

Abstract

This article describes a quasiexperimental study conducted in two Organic Chemistry I classrooms at a diverse, urban, public university. The treatment group received an exam wrapper intervention, a series of four written exercises administered throughout the semester designed to enhance students’ academic self-regulation by promoting self-reflection and study strategy planning. Treatment students were found to significantly outperform control students in the course overall, as well as on a common final exam question. Additionally, data indicated that the exam wrappers may have triggered weaker students to consider their performance and withdraw at significantly higher rates than control students. Exam wrappers show excellent promise as an interventional method for other gateway science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses in addition to Organic Chemistry. They can be easily administered using course management software, they involve no cost, and they require negligible curricular modification and minimal instructor effort.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Edith Rosales

Edith Rosales was a student at Brooklyn College, City University of New York, in New York, New York.

Alla Chavarga

Alla Chavarga is a postdoctoral researcher at Brooklyn College, City University of New York, in Brooklyn, New York

Evan Grandoit

Evan Grandoit is a graduate student at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois

Shoshana Mayer

Shoshana Mayer is a graduate student at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey

Natasha Hackman

Natasha Hackman was a student at Baruch College, City University of New York, in New York, New York.

Milushka Elbulok-Charcape

Milushka Elbulok-Charcape and Alison C. Domzalski are graduate students at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York in New York, New York

Alison C. Domzalski

Milushka Elbulok-Charcape and Alison C. Domzalski are graduate students at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York in New York, New York

Gail Horowitz

Gail Horowitz ([email protected]) is a teacher in the Science Department at Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn, New York. At the time this article was written, City University of New York, in New York, New York.

Gail Horowitz was a lecturer in the Department of Chemistry at Brooklyn College, City University of New York, in New York, New York.