Learning Loss, a Potential Challenge for Transition to Undergraduate Study Following COVID19 School Disruption

ABSTRACT

In a normal year approximately 3 months pass between students taking their final examinations in high school or college and beginning an undergraduate course in chemistry. In the months prior to those examinations, students will usually have undertaken an extensive period of revision and consolidation of the key concepts learned throughout their course. Some of this will be supported by their teachers and some will be independent study. The COVID19 pandemic resulted in the cancellation of these examinations in the UK and Ireland, potentially leaving students with a 6-month gap between their last formal study and beginning their undergraduate courses. Insights from the literature and from teachers of students in the 1618 age range show that it is likely students beginning undergraduate courses in the autumn of 2020 will have weaknesses in subject knowledge compared to previous cohorts. This is likely to be more significant in the areas of synthetic transformations in organic chemistry and core physical chemistry topics. In this communication we present a brief analysis of the potential issues with subject knowledge in order that instructors in higher education may be better informed about the potential challenges in teaching and learning following the COVID19 disruption.