Prev. Article Next Article Table of Contents

Article

Understanding Attrition in an Introductory Chemistry Sequence Following Successful Completion of a Remedial Course

Your current credentials do not allow retrieval of the full text.

Purchase the full-text

PDF/HTML,
figures/images,
references and tables,
(where available)

Kathy B. Jones and Gregory I. Gellene

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409-1061

J. Chem. Educ., 2005, 82 (8), p 1241

DOI: 10.1021/ed082p1241

Publication Date (Web): August 1, 2005

Section:

History, Education, and Documentation

Abstract

This paper discusses the results of a survey conducted to ascertain the causes of attrition among 819 students who had successfully completed a remedial chemistry course over the previous three years with a grade of A, B, or C, yet had not enrolled in the subsequent chemistry course at Texas Tech University. Approximately 22% of the recipients completed and returned the survey instrument. The distribution of responses was largely independent of the type of instructor (temporary or permanent faculty), the academic year the remedial course was taken, or the grade received. Approximately one-third of the respondents attributed their (apparent) attrition to one of three non-curriculum related causes: inaccurate advising to take the remedial course (4.8%), withdrawl from the university (11.9%), or enrollment for the next course in the chemistry sequence at another university (16.1%). Consistently, the most frequent response was that subsequent to taking the remedial chemistry course the respondent either chose or changed to a major that did not require chemistry (53.3%). However, only about 17% of these respondents (or about 9% of the respondents overall) indicated that their decision was influenced by an unfavorable experience in the remedial course. The implications of these findings for the value and effectiveness of a remedial chemistry course is discussed.