The Flat Earth project : motivating students to journey across transitions

One of the key transition points in the journey of a science / applied science student is from school to first Year University. This transition can be especially difficult for those without senior school chemistry entering a degree programme requiring first year chemistry. Indeed, even those that do have the required background can have a hard time crossing this threshold due to embedded misconceptions or lack of understanding of the key underpinning concepts that first year study relies on (Bedford & O’Brien, 2012a; Bedford & O’Brien, 2011). This can cause students to disengage from study and lose the necessary motivation to complete the journey they embarked upon initially with such enthusiasm. The Flat Earth project was conceived to provide a platform to research student engagement and motivation while at the same time it invited the learner to question and test their grasp of key concepts, challenge and rebuild these when misconceptions were “self-discovered.” A chemistry concepts diagnostic tool being developed within a related OLT funded project (Office for Learning and Teaching, 2012) and based on well-established concept inventories, was utilised to probe the level of understanding of our first year Chemistry students over five concept areas