Abstract

High-enrollment, low division gateway courses in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) field historically have a lower rate of student success. Redesigning gateway courses in favor of evidence-based teaching practices improves student performance and pass rates. Research suggests that blended high-structure courses offer pedagogical flexibility and opportunities to incorporate active learning and supplemental instruction, enhancing learning for students. Therefore, using a logistic regression analysis, the effects of a course redesign (with a blended high-structure format and supplemental instruction support) on student performance in a general chemistry course were examined. Three versions of General Chemistry II (Chemistry 202) taught by the same instructor were assessed using students’ final grades. The sample design included students enrolled in a control section in fall 2021; a blended predominantly online low-structure course (n = 67); and two experimental sections (blended high-structure courses) in fall 2022 (n = 63) and fall 2023 (n = 53). It was shown that a blended high-structure course design with the flipped classroom teaching/learning model offered in conjunction with supplemental instruction significantly enhanced the performance of the students and led to improved student performance in the subsequent course in the general chemistry sequence, highlighting positive long-term effects of flipped classroom learning and supplemental instruction support on student performance. This research advocates for the adoption of high-structure learning environments and robust supplemental instruction programs as effective strategies to foster educational achievement in challenging gateway courses.