Abstract:

During the last years, and as part of a teaching research network, teachers of the Department of Organic Chemistry (University of Alicante) has conducted a thorough study on the process of teaching and learning in the area of chemistry, analyzing different strategies and methodologies. From this learning, it can be drawn that a very important part of the students training are the practical activities carried out during the semester. Therefore, the study of the assessment by the students of aspects related with the practical credits was considered of interest.

In this research work has been considered the evaluation by the student regarding different aspects on the practical credits of experimental subjects such as, “Chemistry” (in the Biology Degree and Marine Science Degree), “Structural Determination of Organic Compounds” and “Pharmaceutical Chemistry” (in the Chemistry Degree), and “Applied Organic Chemistry” (in the Chemical Engineering Degree. The subjects belong to different courses and degrees to cover a more heterogeneous range of students with different professional trainings. A questionnaire, where different aspects of the practical credits of the subject are collected, was prepared. The students filled in anonymously the questionnaire once the corresponding practical classes of the course were completed. In general, the students found the practical credits very important as learning activities. The importance of the practices increases for the students in higher courses. Furthermore, the percentage of students giving positive assessment to the practical credits is higher to those belonging to the Chemistry Degree. Most of the students think that the practical sessions help to learn the theoretical contents. The complete study and results will be presented and discussed in our communication.

Keywords:

Practical credits, student assessment, degree, chemistry.