CHEM-342 INTRODUCTION TO BIOCHEMISTRY
FINAL COURSE EVALUATION - SPRING 2002
Summary of Student Responses
Quantiative Responses:
   Skills and Behaviors important for  success.
   Time Requirements for the course
   Attitudes about various aspects of the course
Narrative Responses:
   Describe this course to someone else.
   What does Dr. White do well?
   What could Dr. White do better
   Does the syllabus describe the course?
   How could the course be improved?
[The following tables and transcripts summarize the anonymous responses of students to the end-of-course evaluation distributed on Friday, May 10, 2002 and returned to the departmental secretarial office during the following week. All 18 students, who completed the course, turned in evaluations.]

1. Consider the following items and rate them with respect to how important they are for success in CHEM-342.
 

Item
Extremely
Important
Very
Important
Reasonably
Important
Slightly
Important
Not
Important
Mean 
±S.D.
 Responses
to Q #2
a. Personal Initiative
13
5
0
0
0
1.28
±0.45
10
b. Library Research Skills
12
2
0
0
1.89
±0.57 
14
c. Taking Notes in Class
1
5
8
3
1
2.89
±0.94
0
d. Writing Skills
4
9
5
0
0
2.06
±0.71
e. Collaboration with Classmates
6
3
0
0
1.67
±0.75
16
f. Oral Communication Skills
6
8
4
0
0
1.89
±0.74
10
g. Prior Knowledge
0
8
9
1
0
2.61
±0.59
2
h. Memorization
0
0
6
8
4
3.89
±0.74
0
i. Learning New Information
8
4
4
2
0
2.00
±1.05
2
j. Problem Solving Skills
7
9
2
0
0
1.72
±0.65
7
k. Conceptualization
10
7
1
0
0
1.50
±0.60
6
l. Attendance
12
5
1
0
0
1.39
±0.59
9

2. Reconsider the items a through l in relation to other science courses you have had. Circle those items which, in your experience, are more important in CHEM-342 than in those other courses. (Circle as many as are appropriate.)
[Summary above in column at right.]

3. On average, I spent ___ hours a week on work related to CHEM-342.

Average and Standard Deviation: 5.75 ± 2.39 hours/week

Range: 2 to 10 hours/week

For statements 4 through 36, put a check in the box that best reflects how strongly you agree or disagree with each.
 

Statement
Strongly Agree
Agree
No Opinion/ Undecided
Disagree
Strongly Disagree Mean
± SD
4. It would be a good idea to form new groups after midterm.
3
4
1
7
3
3.17±1.38
5. I found the demonstrations helped my understanding of the articles we read.
9
7
2
0
0
1.61±0.69
6. Peer evaluation of student performance within groups was a worthwhile activity.
0
9
5
3
1
2.77±0.92
7. My group would have done fine without a tutor.
0
1
1
11
5
4.11±0.74
8. Instead of group work, I think Dr. White should lecture more
2
6
2
6
2
3.00±1.25
9. I think examinations in CHEM-342 should focus more on content.
1
5
6
6
0
2.94±0.91
10. The assignments I turned in were graded and returned promptly.
16
2
0
0
0
1.11±0.34
11. A considerable amount of the material in CHEM-342 reviewed material I had studied in other courses.
2
3
2
9
2
3.33±1.20
12. It was a bad idea to change tutors after Spring Break.
3
1
1
7
6
3.67±1.41
13. My group’s concept map reflected mostly the efforts of one or two group members. 
2
3
0
11
2
3.44±1.21
14. I think grades in CHEM-342 should be based solely on individual performance.
1
4
4
9
0
3.17±0.96
15. I frequently talked about subjects and issues arising in this course with people not enrolled in the course.
1
8
4
4
1
2.78
±1.03
16. I feel that I can apply the general principles I learned in CHEM-342 to problems in other courses.
1
11
6
0
0
2.28±0.56
17. I found the hemoglobinopathy assignment worthwhile.
 3
11
3
1
0
2.11±0.74
18. As a result of this class my ability to find, read, and analyze information has improved.
6
11
1
0
0
1.72±0.56
19. I feel confident that I can read and understand research articles.
10
2
0
0
1.78±0.63
20. I am comfortable working in groups.
7
1
1
0
1.67±0.82
21. I feel comfortable sharing information.
9
7
2
0
0
1.61±0.68
22. I feel comfortable asking help from others.
6
11
1
0
0
1.72±0.56
23. I feel comfortable in relying on information obtained from others.
2
8
5
3
0
2.50±0.90
24. Given the opportunity, I would like to take another class designed like this one.
4
7
2
1
2.56±1.12
25. Discussion of the mystery molecules each class helped me make connections to things I had learned in other chemistry courses.
11
3
2
0
2.28±0.80
26. I found the course web-site to be a useful resource.
6
8
4
1
0
1.89±0.74
27. I found the quotations on the board thought provoking.
9
6
2
0
2.50±0.76
28. I enjoyed working in the jigsaw group for one week.
5
2
5
1
2.56±1.30

 
Statement 1-Excellent
2
3
4
5-Very Poor
M ± S.D.
28. Overall, I would rate this class:
11
1
1
0
1.89±0.74
29. Overall, I would rate this instructor:
9
2
0
0
1.72±0.65

Rate each of the articles you studied with respect to its overall contribution to your learning and the goals of the course.
 
Article
Extremely Important
Very Important Reasonably Important Slightly Important Not Important Mean ± S. D.
31. Stokes (1864)
6
9
2
0
0
1.77± 0.64
32. Zinoffsky (1886)
1
11
4
1
0
2.29 ± 0.66
33a. Conant (1923)
3
4
4
1
0
2.25 ± 0.92
33b. Svedberg and Fåhraeus (1926)
2
5
6
0
0
2.31 ± 0.72
34. Herrick (1910)
2
7
5
1
0
2.33 ± 0.79
35. Pauling et al. (1949)
10
6
1
0
0
1.47 ± 0.61
36. Ingram (1957 & 1958)
6
2
0
0
1.59 ± 0.69
37. Allison (1954)
1
2
7
4
1
3.13 ± 0.96

Narrative Responses. [The transcribed narrative comments of the 18 respondents follow. Capital letters designate the different students.]

38. In an informative sentence or two, describe or characterize CHEM-342 to someone who might consider taking the course.

A. CHEM-342 is different from any science class I have taken before b/c you combine prior science knowledge w/ researching new learning issues.  Sometimes the course can be frustrating but you learn a lot in the end.  The research skills you learn will be beneficial when doing research or in upper level science classes.
B. [No response]
C. A group based learning class where you must take initiative to learn.
D. You need to not be afraid to feel stupid.
E. A highly interactive course designed to promote understanding through asking questions, research and discussion.
F. CHEM 342 is a problem based learning course centered around articles that present a progression of knowledge about hemoglobin.  The course is different from most in that in a group format, we have to read the articles and research topics we don’t understand on our own to understand the material.
G. Hemoglobin is Life.  Chem-342 will teach you how hemoglobin’s ability to bind oxygen is vital for human life.  Hemoglobin is also prone to many viral infections called hemoglobinopathys.
H. Chem 342 is a group-based course that requires you to apply the learned material rather than reproduce memorized information.
I. This course mandates that the student takes the initiative to discover what he or she doesn’t know and create the means by which to obtain the answer to those questions.
J. This class is all about problem based learning and group work.  Instead of a textbook or lectures we read old journal articles and have to research ourselves and in our group the aspects we don’t understand.
K. This was an excellent course.  It went beyond the teaching of Hemoglobin & taught fundamentals of Biochemistry and chemistry.  In addition we learned a lot of different skills that will be useful anywhere.
L. It requires good writing skills and understanding of broad concepts.
M. Chem 342 is a problem based learning course that spends the semester reading and discussing scientific articles that paved the understanding of hemoglobin and Sickle cell anemia.
N. In order for one to succeed, and by that I mean do good in this class and learn the info you have to have the desire to constantly do work b/c no one is going to spoon feed you the info like in other classes
O. CHEM342 is a course which requires the use of other skills than studying and memorizing information.  Information learned from previous courses and new information from the articles are related and understood better through individual research and group communication.
P. Be prepared to spend a lot of time researching information by yourself in the library.  This class is unlike any other class I have taken in the past.
Q. CHEM 342 is a problem-based biochemistry course in which articles relating to hemoglobin and sickle cell anemia are read and analyzed in a group setting.
R. A problem-based course designed to give students the chance to apply chemistry & biology to an evolving history of scientific research.



39. Identify or describe some thing(s) that Professor White does particularly well.

A. going over remaining learning issues overseeing that groups stay on track. Very approachable & knows students.
Good job w/ webpage. Thanks for all of practice tests!
B. [No response]
C. 1.  very, very prepared 2.  takes suggestions
D. --Sums up the topics --Explains the topics --Answers questions
E. Helps us to construct answers to questions from what we already know
F. Dr. White does a very good job at selecting articles that are not too far at of the grasp of most students, but still have a substantial amount of material that needs be researched to gain an understanding.  He emphasizes the concepts learned instead of trivial details, forms good groups, tests fairly, and uses different techniques to keep the class interesting enough for most everyone to attend at 8am.
G. Makes the student think about the subject matter in depth.  Incorporates other
information that connects to things I had learned in other chemistry courses.
H. Professor White guided us well in class with that he wrote on the board and
talked about at the beginning of class into finding relevant learning issues to each article.
I. --Rearranged tutors for 2nd half of semester. --Took learning issues at the “wrap-up” of each article.
J. Forces you to probe for deeper understanding
K. This class could not have been so beneficial if it was not so incredibly organized & well thought out.  Everything fit perfectly into the course.  Prof. White had a way of getting us to learn a lot without giving us the answers.
L. Comes up with interesting mystery molecules.
M. Professor White did a nice job connected the mystery molecules to the articles. He also asks thought provoking questions.
N. Goes by the schedule mapped out. Good demonstrations. Grades reasonably
O. Professor White does a particularly good job at explaining difficulty material that everyone is having problems understanding.
P. Encourage thought-provoking questions and answers.
Q. Dr. White is a friendly teacher who knows how to present the course material in an interesting way.  He is easy to approach and answers questions clearly.
R. Hold back information that can be easily obtained by students.


40.    Identify or describe some way(s) that Professor White could improve his teaching (and your learning).

A. more direction in where to find info. on learning issues a little more lecture review session before test
B. [No response]
C. I honestly feel he has done whatever we suggested and tried it, this makes him one of the best professors I have ever has
D. Have more class discussions
E. With mystery molecules:  try to explain more how molecules are grouped together.
F. I feel that the use of mystery molecules and demonstrations are particularly good to reinforce and extend learning.  More use of these and other things that relate what was done in the article to more general concepts would definitely help me learn better.
G. Professor White could have lectured for the first day of each new article started, giving brief but informative background information prior to each group starting to examine their learning issues.
H. An introduction and summary to each article could be helpful.
I. Have 1 or 2 classes without the tutors—either whole class discussion or lecture.
J. I think the class needed more direction and summarization by Professor White. I never knew what he expected of us.
K. I think that every article should have some wrap-up time.  The in class experiments were really helpful, there should be more.
L. He could lecture more.  Make sure that we all understand the important learning issues since some groups do not function as well as others.
M. I found some explanation a bit hard to follow, and I wish wrap-up days gave more an idea what we should have learned from the article.
N. [No response]
O. Sometimes the “learning issues” we study about are left unresolved and we are never informed of their answers.  When an issue has not been figured out for sometime, Prof. White should explain to us the answers.
P. Lecture more.  Possibly provide summaries to the learning issues presented in
class (type the answers and hand them out to wrap up the article, in addition to having a class discussion.)  Sometimes when questions were answered it was in a “roundabout” manner and I couldn’t remember them later.
Q. [No response]
R. Focus more on student thought processes & learning results & not as much on specific “learning issues.”



41. Reread the course syllabus and provide some thoughtful feedback. e.g. Did the syllabus adequately describe the course? Are there aspects of the syllabus that are unclear or misleading that should be revised? What is missing that should be included? Feel free to discuss this question with your classmates.

A. Between the webpage and the syllabus, I feel everything is adequately covered.
B. [No response]
C. I feel the syllabus is very straight forward.
D. I thought the syllabus was well organized
E. The syllabus describe the course pretty well.
F. I feel that the syllabus really does a good job describing the course, especially now that I look back at it.  At the beginning of the year I read the syllabus and was a little confused, but not mislead.  I think Chem 342 is something that needs to be experienced and writing a syllabus that would give someone a perfect sense of what the course is like before they have taken it is impossible.
G. I thought that the syllabus adequately described the course content very clearly.
H. The syllabus described the course well.  The links on the website proved to be very helpful.
I. --Grading %’s were clear, although it would be nice to know how much each individual assignment (ie concept map) was worth. --Garret & Grisham textbook should be required for class/reference
J. Under Reading Assignments it says each group will be provided a spiral notebook for learning issues—I think this would have helped a lot.
K. The course syllabus was very informative.  I just don’t remember seeing anything that broke down the point values of all the exams & assignments.
L. The syllabus does a good job in describing the class.  The only part I feel that should be improved is on grading.  I think it should be more specific to how much each assignment is worth.  Also, since the class is not on a curve, a grading scale should be listed since it should be standard.
M. I thought the syllabus clearly stated the expectations of the class.  Having it on the web made it easily accessible and it had a lot of very helpful links.
N. [No response]
O. Yes the syllabus adequately described the course.  I thought it was a very well rounded syllabus that I could actively refer to.  One thing missing that would be helpful, would be a description of each HW assignment on the syllabus itself.  This would help in looking up directions for HW assignments easily.
P. I cannot think of any revisions that need to be made to the syllabus.
Q. I feel that the syllabus accurately described the course.
R. The breakdown into group “roles” (i.e. skeptic, recorder, etc.) proved to be not very useful or applicable, but the rest is quite good.



42. Reflect on the course and identify those aspects that you think could be improved. Please suggest ways for improvement.

A. I felt the class is too early for such difficult content:  9 or 10 or later time slot would be good.
B. [No response]
C. I feel this course was probably not very relevant to my major, engineering.
However, it has been one of my favorite classes because of the way it was taught. It made me take initiative and I think I got so much more out of it than if it were a lecture/textbook class.  Maybe made a biochem textbook required
D. More class discussions to sum up and connect articles
E. [No response]
F. I really enjoyed Chem 342 and think it is one of the top 3, if not the best course, I have taken here.  It was really nice not to have to hear lectures for the first Biochem course I have taken.  One thing that might improve the course for next year is if enough tutors sign up, groups might be made a little smaller with a max of 3 students.  I don’t know if this is feasible, but it might solve the problem I feel our group had of having one member who doesn’t do much because they don’t want to and there are enough other members to carry the load.  Other than that, keep the mystery molecules and demos coming, they really helped me learn and extend what I’ve learned to a more general learning.
G. The groups and tutors should change after the midterm to let different people work together in a diverse environment.
H. More full class discussions would be helpful to get other points of view.  After a few days on the same article, the groups tend to get stuck in the same learning issues.
I. Do some in-class work that is not group work.  We get so comfortable
working in groups that suddenly, if need to take a test alone, we feel inadequate with just our own opinions and not others’.
J. Please do not have class at 8 am
K. This may sound stupid, but 8 am is really hard for me to function & I think members of my group had the same problem.  Overall this was an excellent course—I would (& have) recommend it to anyone.  Although there was nothing specific to my area of interest (environmental engineering), I still feel it was definitely a worthwhile course.  It goes beyond the specific topic of Hemoglobin & I really learned a lot about Biochemistry.  Perhaps the best was learning other skills like, library skill communication skills & problem solving.
L. I think Dr. White should lecture more and take more time to make sure that we understand the article.  Maybe eliminate one article to spend more time on the others.  Introduce the hemoglobinopathy assignment earlier to we could spend more time on it.
M. This class required a large amount of participation and preparation which helped me learn a great deal.  I thought too much emphasis was put onto learning issues and some of the tutors were not very well prepared.
N. [No response]
O. I thoroughly enjoyed any demonstrations done in class as they provided a little needed excitement.  More demonstrations would help the class from becoming routine and boring.  Also, some weeks would consist of three days of “group discussion.”  Although these sessions are beneficial, they became repetitive after a while.  A new type of group learning activity could add more fun to the class while still being beneficial.
P. I believe issues need to be shared with the entire class somehow.  One group may approach a problem differently than another, making them more or less well-prepared for an exam, or just giving them the opportunity to better retain the knowledge through those different methods.
Q. An inherent problem with group-based learning is that different members of a group will have differing abilities and paces.  Perhaps no group part to the final. Difficult to interact enthusiastically during an 8am class . . . later time would mean more student enthusiasm.
R. It was often frustrating to limit a search for information to an acceptable “learning issue.”  I enjoy identifying a problem & solving it, but the format of learning issues felt a bit restrictive.



CHEM-342 Departmental Evaluations (Bubble Sheet)
Handwritten comments from the back of sheet

I have no complaints about this course.  It was truly one of the most beneficial I have taken & the professor was excellent.  It really stressed understanding & not memorization.  Not only did I learn a lot about Biochemistry, but also problem solving skills, communication skills, library skills & group learning.  I would recommend this class to anyone.

I really did not like this class.  I don’t like problem based learning and was frustrated throughout this course.  I think sophomore Biochem majors should not be require to take this class.  I prefer a lecture based class to one set up like CHEM 342.  I was really frustrated with how assignments were graded—it didn’t seem to follow any logic.  It was hard to understand what Dr. White wanted on his assignments.  I felt the hemoglobinopathy paper needed more direction.  I will never take another PBL course because of this one.  I did however learn a lot about journal articles and how to write a research paper from journal articles from this course.  Dr. White knows a lot about Biochemistry and I think would be a great lecturer.  Class would be much better if it were NOT at 8 am.



Course Home Page, Course Syllabus, Course Schedule, Department Home Page, Dr. White's Home Page
Created 17 July 2002