Access to Science Study (PASS)

Purpose

The Program for Access to Science Study (PASS) is designed for students unprepared for science and math courses at the college level. PASS consists of a preparatory science course taught in tandem with a special counseling seminar. The course introduc es the students to chemistry and physics topics by means of problem sets, related experiments, and a quiz. The counseling seminar is designed to promote students' ability to monitor, evaluate and adjust their behavior in order to achieve their academic a nd personal goals. The focus of the course and seminar is on developing the problem solving skills, academic habits, discipline and attitudes that will allow students to succeed in science-based fields.

Innovative Features

PASS focuses not only on the development of problem-solving skills in a scientific context but also on giving students an understanding of the kind of learning that is expected in college, and help in gaining control over their personal lives as it impa cts on their studies. PASS recognizes that many students, used to succeeding through rote memorization, have not learned more complex reasoning skills. It addresses the problems of those who have never had to study outside of class and thus do not know how to manage time, create adequate study space, manage work and family demands, or exercise the self-discipline necessary to succeed in college.

The instructional component of each section is taught by a science graduate student, while qualified counselors teach the seminars. Undergraduate students lead the group problem solving tutorials. All receive careful training and meet weekly with the project coordinators to discuss the progress of individual students as well as that of the program as a whole.

Evaluation

Groups of students requiring a preparatory science course had a choice between the PASS program and the long established parallel course, Chemistry 5. Students chose between the two on the basis of scheduling preference, word of mouth, or advisement. The progress of students in both groups was followed and the two groups were compared over the following two semesters in terms of the correlation of their PASS/Chemistry 5 grades with GPA's and performance in subsequent science and math courses.

Project staff tracked PASS students on a variety of other measures, such as retention rates and success rates in science and math courses compared with the overall college success rates in the same courses. Staff evaluated the application of problem so lving strategies emphasized in PASS and obtained correlations between student and instructor evaluations of the attainment of skills and attitudes that were the focus of PASS, as well as correlations between performance in PASS and measures of changes in behaviors.

Project Impact

The substantial data collected and analyzed demonstrated that PASS students had a significantly higher retention rate than the general college population (Table 1). The level of performance in PASS was a strong predictor of future academic performance, both in general and in math and science courses in particular, which was not true of the comparison group (Tables 2, 3). The instructor evaluations and student self-evaluations indicated that students who were successful in PASS had developed positive a ttitudes and behaviors that lead to academic success, particularly as regards their problem solving abilities and their ability to manage their personal lives.

Lessons Learned

The PASS project demonstrates the advantage of giving underprepared students a full semester of specific training in problem solving and self-management skills before involving them in math and science courses that require learning behaviors with which they are unfamiliar. The directors have also learned that the seminar's focus on behaviors and attitudes can best be handled as part of the course itself, rather than as a separate activity.

Although the PASS and comparable groups entered the introductory courses with the same background, only the PASS group acquired skills that can be transferred to other courses. PASS encourages students to assess themselves and their progress realistically, and, most importantly, to accept the challenge of future academic work instead of shrinking from it. It emphasizes an interactive atmosphere which produces active learners. It encourages students to take control of their academic lives and trains them to be effective students. Ordinary introductory courses may be effective in teaching science material, but they do not teach the transferable skills which lead to success in future courses.

Project Continuation and Recognition

Two sections of PASS are offered each semester. The counseling portion requires external funding, but the College covers all other costs. The strength of the program's effects on students and of the documentation of their growth has been validated by the Performance Effectiveness Panel of the National Diffusion Network.

Dissemination

Recently, the project was awarded a second FIPSE grant to disseminate PASS to a diverse group of New York institutions, public and private, two- and four-year, liberal arts and research.

Available Information

More extensive data about course outcomes, staff training and program management, curriculum and adaptation of the course are available from:

Millicent Roth
Department of Special Programs
City College of New York
New York, NY 10031
212-650-6768

Michael Weiner
Chemistry Department
City College of New York
New York, NY 10031
212-650-8337

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