Video Transcript: Stepping Stones to Learning

Dr. Kimberly White, Chemistry Department

I think of a class as a river. And if I am giving my students a midterm, a midterm, a midterm, and a final, I'm not giving them very many stepping stones to getting over the river. And they're having to make these giant leaps and it's all on them. This very individuated context that students are having to master this, so I like to think of what kind of stepping stones can I give my students to help them cross this river.

And so when I think of the things that we do in the class as skills that they're learning, things that are going to help them get from those different stepping stones to the new stepping stones across the river, I think about what are those things that I can add into the classroom for students. So I do weekly homework assignments. And so we cover the material in the class and then every week they have a weekly homework assignment. But the weekly homework assignment is for credit — credit or no credit — so as long as they prove to me by doing the homework that they're actually attempting the question, they're going to be given credit for that. I don't want to have students be discouraged because they try the homework and they get it wrong, and then they feel that they failed, and they're going to be less willing to put themselves out there for the next homework. So I do for credit homework and this builds this confidence — that I can try — but I'm going to get credit for trying. And that there's value in me trying. And it's not just value for the correct answer, it's value for the process. So I have those stepping stones that I add to the process.

And then I do some self-reflection exercises. I like to start off the semester with a growth mindset exercise. A lot of students come to organic chemistry and they feel very discouraged. They feel like they've heard from everybody else that is so difficult and it is one of the hardest classes they're ever going to take — and that is already clouding their thinking. So I start with a growth mindset activity where I ask students to think about their strengths and think about themselves as capable learners and approach the organic chemistry classroom with that mindset as opposed to a deficit-based approach.