Abstract:

Student engagement in theoretical-practical (TP) lessons is a longstanding challenge in Higher Education. Several strategies, such as the use of digital multimedia resources and social networks, have been proposed to enhance student engagement. On the other hand, teaching and learning methods such as peer learning, flipped classroom, and gamification have been highlighted as strong drivers in promoting active student engagement. When implemented in Chemistry TP classes, these active learning strategies not only allow a deeper content knowledge but also helps to develop other transversal skills, including written and oral communication.
This article describes the implementation of an active learning approach in TP classes, applied in a physical chemistry course at the University of Aveiro. This approach involves conducting group tests instead of the traditional TP lessons, contributing to the final individual evaluation. At the beginning of the semester, the instructor presents the methodology to the students and its weight on the final individual grade. The class is divided into groups of three or four students, then a test with ten multiple-choice questions is given, regarding the previous week's material. During the test, students do not consult any material, and are encouraged to discuss the questions freely amongst themselves. This strategy occurs throughout 10 to 12 weeks, along the academic semester. Some additional gamification components are used in this approach, including the use of Jokers and The Password Game.
The system of Jokers plays a relevant role in this method, allowing groups to ask the instructor questions without penalty, providing the instructor an opportunity to guide the group towards solving the specific problem through topic discussion and ensuring that no group fails in the tests progress. The Password Game with structured exercises where students can only access test statements at the end of lessons, as a challenge for exam preparation. The test files and their solutions are restricted by the completion of an exercise on the same topic, with the solution as a password for file access to the next exercise.
The implementation of this methodology was part of a student evaluation, based on brainstorming to understand what to stop doing, what to start in the course and what to continue doing. These suggestions shaped the structure of a Likert-scaled STOP, START, CARRY ON questionnaire, with five points ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”, and a "N/A" option. The survey also included open-ended sections for comments.
The survey was answered by 75 students. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate the results. It provided feedback on various active learning dimensions of the TP strategies, including the agreement on the division of group mini-tests, the exclusion of the worst mini-tests from the final grade and the inclusion of discrete evaluation with three individual tests. Students also expressed their opinions on the difficulty level of tests and examinations, the need for more study materials, and the need for non-evaluative exercise solving moments.
Considering the results, further developments were identified, such as the inclusion of a more formal gamification strategy. This research, therefore, provides valuable insights for an effective integration of active learning strategies in chemistry education, offering a suitable model for educators seeking innovative pedagogical approaches.

Keywords:

Active-Learning, Theoretical-Practical Lessons, Chemistry Education.