The relationship of videotaped laboratory presentations as advance organizers with attitudes toward science and academic success of community college student

During the fall 1993 academic semester, 32.5 percent of the introductory chemistry students and 30.1 percent of the general chemistry students had withdrawn from classes at an urban community college located in the south central United States by the end of the term.;The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to investigate the relationship of using videotaped laboratory presentations as advance organizers for teaching chemistry laboratory activities on attitudes and academic success of community college students. Control subjects were instructed using traditional methods. The subjects of this investigation were 173 students from a population of 290 freshman and sophomore students taking the first course in chemistry (Introduction to Chemistry and General Chemistry) in the Fall of 1994. Student responses to an end-of-course Likert scale survey of chemistry were used as a measure of science attitude. Student final grades were used to measure academic success rates. Student withdrawal rates were used as an indirect measure of both attitude and academic success.;Based on this study, a correlation exists between traditional students preparation of assigned pre-laboratory materials and academic success, however, compliance in preparation of materials was poor in this population and even with short in-class testing, did not improve among the control group. There is a high correlation (r =.82, p $<$.01) between the use of advance videotape organizers and academic success in the introductory chemistry course. Attrition rates of the experimental group decreased from 32.5% to 4.2% within introductory chemistry and to 30.1% to 8.8% within general chemistry.;Students in the experimental group expressed greater positive attitudes toward use of videotaped activities as advance organizers and toward the study of chemistry.