We administered our first end of unit assessment in our Chemistry I course and were met with a little worse than typical bell curve results in the distribution of scores, with 16/65 (25%) of students scoring Ds and Fs. There seemed that no time quite like then that could be better for setting some attainable academic goals, especially for our underperforming students. I used Locke and Latham’s goal setting theory in hopes of increasing the overall academic performance in our Chemistry I course.
Locke and Latham have studied the goal setting theory for the majority of their careers, and have determined that in order to be successful, goals must have five main components, often referred to as SMART objectives:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-bound
Below is my 5E lesson plan incorporating their techniques.