The Butte College Department of Physical Sciences provides quality educational programs within a student-centered environment. We offer complete lower division transfer programs for physical science (chemistry, geology, physics, physical science, and meteorology) and engineering majors, as well as high-quality general education, program support (health professions including nursing, respiratory therapy and EMT) and preparatory classes that serve the needs of our community.
Overview:
The Department of Physical Sciences enjoys an excellent reputation within the campus community. The Chemistry, Geology, and Physics programs offer lower-division courses for science and engineering majors and the Physical Science program offers general education courses for all majors. Students that have been through our programs return on a regular basis to reflect on their experiences, and the sense of collegiality they felt while in our classes. This is also reflected in student evaluations. Full-time faculty members Colin Ferguson, Penny Lillie, Jason Trento, and Bob White are former Butte College students and decided to return to the department and give back some of what they received. We work with other departments (specifically Mathematics, Biology, and Computer Science) to create a student-friendly schedule with accessible offerings in a number of different formats. All chemistry classes, and most classes in the other three programs, tend to close before the end of registration with full wait lists, again reflecting a high degree of demand for our programs as well as a solid reputation for our courses.
Chemistry:
Enrollment patterns clearly show that the chemistry program is nearing maximum capacity; it needs to grow significantly to accommodate student demand. For example, all nine (9) sections of CHEM 110 for Fall 2015 closed within days of the start of registration. We also added a lab section of CHEM 110 to the summer in 2015 and it filled. Demand for this class remains very high because of the enforcement of prerequisites in some science courses. Most every other chemistry class fills before the end of registration, with over 300 students on wait lists. The chemistry program needs additional lab space and lecture facilities to alleviate wait lists along with the faculty to teach them. We need funds to cover the ever increasing costs of chemicals, and a greatly increased budget for student graders and assistants. The Physical Sciences building has three dedicated lecture rooms, two lecture-laboratory combination rooms, and three dedicated chemistry labs. Two of the chemistry labs are close to one hundred percent (100%) capacity; the other is over fifty percent (50%). Due to the special needs of chemistry relating to supplies, safety, and handling of chemicals, there is no other location on campus to teach these classes. Also, the department is unable to utilize the four-day campus week because pedagogical needs require us to spread out extensive content and because of the logistical constraints imposed by staffing and locating three-hour time blocks for lab sections. Compared to other programs that adhere to the four-day campus week, we are at, or very near to, full capacity.
Physics:
Enrollment in the physics program continues to increase; most of the physics classes fill every semester along with full wait lists. For example, the program began offering PHYS 22 in Summer 2014 and the class nearly filled. When it was offered again in Summer 2015, it filled. We also added an extra lab section to each of PHYS 41 and PHYS 42 in Spring 2015 and both had healthy enrollment. In Spring 2016, the extra PHYS 41 lab completely filled with a wait list and the extra PHYS 42 lab section also filled. All of this indicates that the program is growing and that it is poised to grow even more as the Engineering program expands. Now that the Engineering program is housed within the Computer Science department, it should have access to better space and funding streams, which should help it to grow, thus helping Physics grow. The physics program subsists on a single lab room that is also used for some physical science courses; currently, the room usage exceeds eighty percent (80%) of capacity. For example, PS-105 is also used for PSC 10 and PSC 30 as well as some engineering courses (but these will exit within the next year). With the addition of PSC 30H and PSC 12 in Fall 2016, we need more lecture and lab space (the anticipated addition of PSC 11 will make the space issue more dire). Research of comparable California community colleges indicates that we should be offering PHYS 21, 22, and 43 both semesters; currently each class is only offered once a year (not counting the summer). These additions will further exacerbate the space issue and will require an additional physics instructor. All of these changes (higher course frequency, new course offerings, extra sections) means we will need to hire a full-time physics instructor beginning Fall 2017.
Geology:
The geology program is quite strong considering we only have a single full-time instructor. All four classes in each semester currently close with full wait lists. We added an extra Physical Geology section (GEOL 32) to each of the Fall and Spring semesters. The Fall 2014 section had healthy enrollment; so did the Spring 2015 section, but it had to be cancelled since we have only one full-time instructor and the only part-time instructor was overloaded with geology and physical science classes. We've requested a full-time hire the past two years, but it has not achieved a high enough prioritization to move forward. With the approval of the Geology AS-T degree two years ago, we have begun offering Historical Geology (GEOL 34) starting Fall 2015. The program's greatest needs are a commitment from administration--in light of the recently approved AS-T degree--to offer more sections and hire a full-time instructor.
Physical Science:
Enrollments in the Physical Science program are very good--most classes fill well before the semesters begin. The Weather classes (PSC 50 and 51) are very strong at both the Chico Center and the Main Campus. We finally added a new course, Natural Hazards (PSC 53), in Summer 2015. It was successful and is now being offered regularly each Fall semester. Environmental Science (PSC 10) continues to be extremely popular. We currently offer one section of 24 students that closes during the first week of registration. We could easily fill a second section of PSC 10 and serve more students if we are allowed to expand the schedule. The interdisciplinary Introductory Physical Science (PSC 20 and 21) has had very good enrollments, and the physicists have strengthened the Introductory Astronomy (PSC 30) with an Honors section as well as a regular section at night. AS-T degree requirements in other programs has necessitated us offering PSC 12 in Fall 2016 and PSC 11 sometime in the next one or two years. If this moves as expected, we will have to ask for a full-time hire.
The college has committed itself to AS-T degrees and data-driven decision making. The numbers for all four (4) of our programs are about as clear as possible—we need more space and faculty. We are reaching a point where the department cannot add sections because we do not have the available space and we do not have the faculty. Part-time faculty are hard to find in rural areas like Butte County. Because of the large wait lists, faculty often feel compelled to add students over ped cap. This continues to raise serious safety issues, especially in the chemistry labs, but it also erodes our supply budgets and dilutes pedagogy. However, the administration has been very supportive of hiring additional faculty, slightly increasing our budgets, lowering chemistry ped caps, and educating the college at large about our unique needs. For example, we will hire an eighth chemistry instructor this year. Administration also worked patiently with us--and ultimately supported--in lowering the chemistry ped caps because of the safety issues. There is also very strong campus-wide support for the district to float a bond issue to fund a new science building.
Finally, our Physical Science Senior Laboratory Technician currently works under a ten-month contract. This position is responsible for three of our four programs; lacking the summer work time makes it very difficult for the tech to handle long-term projects. The physics and physical science faculty have had to forgo several building projects because of this. We feel the tech can be much more effective if the position is recharacterized as a twelve-month one.
One Year Temp Full-Time Faculty
This academic year, we had one full-time chsmistry instructor on sabbatical and another on reduced load. Since most of the chemists routinely take overloads, there was simply no way we could preserve the schedule without hiring one replacement. The dean (David Danielson) fought for this one-year hire and fortunately Leadership recognized the need and granted the request. The one-year replacement is familiar with Butte College as he has taught several years for the college as an associate faculty and has interviweed for a previous full-time position. His fall semester went very well and a formal evaluation was undertaken by Michael Panunto and Penny Lillie under the supervision of dean Kam Bull. During the fall, the department also developed a plan to add three sections to the Fall 2016 schedule: two CHEM 51 lab sections and one CHEM 110 lab section, which will be appended to existing lectures. This will alleviate some of the pressure from wait lists and give the health profession majors more options to complete the CHEM 51 CHEM 52 sequence. This necessitates another chemistry postion, bringing the faculty total to eight. Our current dean (Suzanne Gripenstraw) fought successfully for this position, and we are currently in the hiring process. This one-year hire was extremely beneficial to the department and the college because it demonstrated that we can meet demand and it helped spur both the faculty and the administration to seriously grow the program.
Full-time tenure-track Chemistry instructor.
This position was essentially a replacement for an instructor who resigned. When that instructor left at the end of Spring 2014, we filled it with a one-year hire, and then we permanently filled it beginning Fall 2015. This position has given us another talented instructor and gives us the personnel to expand our course offerings and help alleviate some of the pressure from wait lists.
Differential Scanning Calorimeter
This item was purchased for the Engineering program. It is used for an important lab component in the ENGR 45 (Materials Science) course. The program was moved out of Physical Sciences and into Computer Science, so no further support is anticipated for this item.
High Voltage Power Supply
Electrostatics is an important conceptual milestone in PHYS 42 and PHYS 22. Unfortunately, demonstrating electrostatic behavior is currently limited to showing use of our van de Graaff generator and having students use some abysmal triboelectrification kits. The high-voltage power supply now gives us the ability to generate sufficient electrostatic charge for students to perform meaningful experiments. We purchased one unit. We ultimately need at least five (5) more so that they can be connected in series to generate sufficiently high potential.
Optics Kits & Benches
The optics equipment is aging and this equipment was purchased to replace some of it.
SLO assessments will performed and reviewed for the following courses this year:
Fall: CHEM 51, GEOL 32, PHYS 21, PSC 20
Spring: CHEM 22, PHYS 41, PSC 21
The most recent assessment results and planned improvements from 2014-15 are:
CHEM2 After discussion, it was decided to use the second approach in the Spring 2015 semester’s CHEM 2 course.
Students will be asked to write up procedures for each experiment, including their results. The draft will be turned in to the lab instructor, who will assess the draft (using the standardized grading rubric) and return it with comments and suggestions. Students will be given a deadline for submission, to keep the grading load reasonable. For this trial, the drafts will not be assigned a point value.
PHYS 41 Give more weekly homework and quiz assessments on conservation of energy.
PSC 10 A lab activity was developed to allow students to actually apply the scientific method to solve a problem. The lab involves students working in groups to identify and explain patterns in decks of cards. Students have to make observations, discover patterns and write a hypothesis to explain the patterns. When the pattern changes, students have to modify or rewrite their hypothesis. This lab activity has resulted in a much deeper understanding of the scientific method demonstrated by a marked increase in quiz/test scores during the Spring 2015 semester.
PSC 51 I was surprised to calculate a score under 70% for the Scientific Method quiz assessment. I will evaluate the quiz questions and determine if changes are needed, or if more motivation needs to be placed on student preparation.
The PSC Assessment Matrix may require modification due to part-time instructors teaching PSC 20 and 21 and not having the training to assess those courses. Those courses should be assessed when a full-time faculty member is assigned to teach them.
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College |
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Program |
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Indicator |
Source |
2013-2014 Performance |
Standard |
Five Year Goal |
Fall 2014 Performance |
Standard |
Five Year Goal |
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Course Success |
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- Overall |
PDR |
71.1% |
70% |
73% |
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- Transfer/GE |
PDR |
71.5% |
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73% |
CHEM 71.1% GEOL 67.4% PHYS 67.6% PSC 67.9% |
70% 65% 65% 65% |
75% 70% 70% 70% |
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- CTE |
PDR |
75% |
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77% |
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- Basic Skills |
PDR |
51.7% |
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55% |
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- Distance Ed (all) |
PDR |
62.5% |
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64% |
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Persistence (Focused). Note: The Persistence (Focused) that is included in the PDR is a different indicator than the three-primary term persistence indicator, from the state Student Success Scorecard, that is used to measure institutional persistence. The Focused Persistence indicator measures the percentage of students that took a second course in a discipline within one year. There is no relationship between the college and program standards in this area. |
PDR |
72.6% (Three-Term) Scorecard |
67% (Three-Term) Scorecard |
75% (Three-Term) Scorecard |
8.9% |
8% |
12% |
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Degrees |
PDR |
1,455 |
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1,600 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
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Certificates |
PDR |
366 |
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475 |
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Developmental Strand Completion |
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- English |
State |
42% |
35% |
45% |
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- Math |
State |
30.7% |
25% |
33% |
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- ESL |
State |
25% |
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28% |
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Licensure Pass Rates |
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- Registered Nursing |
SC |
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- Licensed Vocational Nursing |
SC |
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- Respiratory Therapy |
SC |
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- Paramedic |
SC |
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- Cosmetology |
SC |
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- Welding |
SC |
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Job Placement Rates |
PIV |
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The Chemistry, Geology, Physics and Physical Science programs support the college in meeting its Strategic Direction and Priorities in the following ways:
Connection: Since the physical sciences are somewhat orthodox disciplines, the expectations we have for students have not changed significantly over time. The area high school science teachers know what is expected of students before they enter college. Our biggest challenge is the enforcement of prerequisites and ensuring the proper advising of students. We have worked closely with the Assessment office to enforce prerequisites in several of our courses. Now that the college leadership has decreed that all prerequisites will be enforced, that should help with winnowing out underprepared students and redirecting them into remedial and/or developmental classes. We also continue to work closely with two counselors, Debbie Reynolds and John Soldate, making sure they are aware of our needs and the challenges facing students when they are advised to take classes for which they are underprepared or which they do not need.
Completion: All but one (CHEM 110) of our courses articulate with CSU and UC campuses. In order to maintain articulation and ensure students who complete our coursework and move on, we continually update and evaluate course content, course syllabi, course outlines, prerequisites, course materials, laboratory equipment and experiments, pedagogical modalities, course SLOs, program SLOs, GE SLOs, as well as SLO assessments, and incorporating the latest technological advances and educational recommendations. We also are developing an online version of Introductory Astronomy (PSC 30).
Student Engagement: The faculty use myriad ways to communicate with students. Since all of our courses are content-heavy, we always ensure that students know where and when they can find us in case they miss work or are having problems. Most instructors also use some form of an online educational management system, including Blackboard, Canvas, Mastering, and WebAssign.
Accreditation: The entire department is sensitive to the need for accreditation and that any deficiencies reported by the accrediting agencies must be remedied at once. For example, we have a very good record of SLO development and SLO assessment. Several of the faculty spearheaded the department's initial SLO development and assessment implementation and then shared their results with the rest.
Resources: The department supplies clear arguments for every request it makes for money, equipment, and space. Money is spent wisely and the two senior lab technicians husband our resources carefully. The Physical Sciences building is maintained very well and we make very efficient use of the lecture and laboratory space.
Access & Targeted Populations: The department has been adding classes to help improve access. We are limited by space and personnel, however; all of our courses involve labs and this is the only building on main campus that is equipped for them. We also suffer from a paltry part-time instructor pool; there are simply not many qualified instructors who are willing and/or able to teach part-time in a largely rural area. The college is aware of the space issue and is working toward a long-term solution. What we need to do now before the new science building is finsihed is to consider ways to temporarily increase space. The only way to solve the personnel issue is to higher more full-time instructors. Finally, the department is working with Life Sciences to develop a two-day Science Boot Camp (funded through a Student Equity grant) to be held in August 2016. This camp will help students identified through the Dashboard improve their scientific reasoning and analytical skills so that they are better prepared for the science courses they will take in the Fall.
Our latest program review was 2013-14. The Validation Team issued twelve (12) recommendations. Their status is outlined below.
New science building: The college has recently agreed to float a bond issue, part of which will fund a new science building.
Counseling: The department works closely with two counselors, Debbie Reynolds and John Soldate, so that the advise they give science students is germane to their majors and helps them navigate our courses efficiently and successfully.
Fees: We used to collect profits from the sale of lab manuals, but the college rescinded this ability two years ago. The Validation team recommended that if the administration does not allow us to reinstate these profits, then they should make up the difference in our supply budgets.
Long-term savings: We are currently with dean Suzanne Gripenstraw to find ways to build long-term savings by holding onto unused monies at the end of each fiscal year.
Hire an additional chemist: In progress. This chemist will begin Fall 2016.
Smart room upgrades: In progress.
Prerequisite enforcement: In progress.
Improved scheduling using all five days: This is something we have no control over. The faculty at large have convinced themselves that by only meeting their students four days per week instead of five somehow improves student success and access.
Tracking graduates: In progress.
Chemical Hygiene Officer stipend: In progress.
Projects involving students: In progress.
2+2 articulation agreements for CHEM 110: This idea has not been pursued yet. The faculty has been focusing on possible changes in CHEM 110 content due to a request from the Life Sciences department. Once this issue is resolved, we will pursue 2 + 2 agreements.
The Physical Sciences department contains four vibrant programs: chemistry, geology, physical science, and physics. We are housed in a single buidling on the main campus; we do have a few courses taught at the Chico Center. While this buliding is in very good shape and we use it to a high efficiency, growth in the needs for the studnets for physical science courses has pushed demand to a point where we cannot offer enough sections to meet need. Fortunately, the college is committed to a new building. While this is good news, it may be another five years before a new building materializes and we need to be able to expand slowly during that time. This will mean either bringing in portable classrooms or moving some of our lecture classes into other builldings. Along with this growth comes more faculty and support staff. Given the rate of growth, we envisage the hiring of one more physics instructor and one more geology instructor, two or three more chemists and one more laboratory technician over the next several years. Along with this, we have developed three AS-T degrees in chemistry, geology and physics. We will continue streamlining the process and we hope to work within the guided pathways framework to construct a schedule that meets maximum student need while making the most efficient use of our resources.
Strategy 1 - Increased Lecture & Laboratory Space
All four programs share the same basic needs: one, the ability to add sections of popular classes to the schedule, both at Chico Center and Main Campus; two, more lecture and laboratory space; three, more funds for both supplies (to account for inflation, depreciation, and attrition) and student assistants; and four, more full-time faculty, especially in physics and geology. All of these unmet needs directly diminsh our ability to serve those students seeking to complete certificates or degrees, those attempting to transfer, and those students seeking to complete the natural science component of their general education experience. Even the most cursory glance at fill rates and room usage shows that all of our programs are impacted and that the solution lies only in more space, more space, and yet even more space as well as the funds to match it. All four programs occupy one of the oldest buildings on campus; our classes are overflowing and every instructor is faced each semester with hordes of students vying to get in. Fortunately, the college recently agreed to float bond issue, part of which will fund the construction of a new science building. While this should solve our long-term space problem, we still need to consider ways to temporarily solve it until that new buiding is ready. We see only three possible solutions: capturing space in the exisitng building from the MESA program; extensive remodeling of the old automtive building into dedicated lecture and laboratory space; and/or the importation of portable classrooms and/or labs.
All of our programs and courses are popular because science is aesthetically pleasing and economically rewarding. America prides itself on its Enlightenment heritage, a revolutionary movement of thought and discovery that was largely informed and driven by scientific advances. All of the wonderful technology that Americans utilize and worship is the direct result of the patient and exacting labor of scientists discovering fundamental physical processes and the clever and ingenious work of engineers who shape these processes into devices that do our bidding. The maintenance and nurturing of our programs at Butte College should be obvious: if you want a new generation of scientists and engineers to continue developing awesome technological solutions to life's problems, you need to feed our programs.
Strategy 2 - Twelve-month Senior Physical Science Laboratory Technician
The senior physical science laboratory technician is currently serving in a ten-month contract. This individual is responsible for the equipment, lab facilities, and supply and grader budgets of three (3) of the four (4) programs in the department: physics, physical science, and geology. A successful senior laboratory technician is one who is orderly, punctual, self-motivating, and knowledgeable in the physical sciences in the broadest sense. Most importantly, however, this position demands someone who enjoys seizing the initiative and working on projects that enhance student success and whose benefits might not accrue for several semesters. We want to recharacterize this position into a twelve-month one.
Increasing demand in physics and the uncertainty surrounding the overall space allocations for the entire department in the near and far future have greatly added to the senior laboratory technician's normal duties. These duties include: maintaining and servicing all the laboratory and demonstration equipment for the four programs; overseeing and dispersing monies from the supply and grader budgets for those programs; summer school support; and, working on various building and laboratory projects that enhance students' experiences, provide safer work environments, and help the department as a whole operate more efficiently. The time available for these routine duties, however, is slowly eroding due to the ever-increasing time the technician must devote to help the physics program grow. The technician's absence from the college for two months each summer exacerbates this problem, making it very difficult for him to accomplish many long-term projects since many of his routine duties are being squeezed into ten months. While the department does have another full-time senior technician, the physical science tech position is unique. Therefore, his duties cannot be readily transferred to someone else.
A bulleted list of duties that currently are NOT being performed at only ten months include:
Strategy 3 - Full-time Instructors in Physics & Geology
These two (2) programs are growing. Once we have the necessary space, we can provide relief from the wait lists and this will only happen with extra full-time instructors in Geology and Physics.
Both programs have significant wait lists, despite the overall trend for the campus which is downward. When we get sufficient space, we can offer sections to provide relief to the students on wait lists. This will only happen when we have more personnel. Physics has shown sufficient growth that sections have been added to the summer and both semesters. Geology has only a single full-time instructor. Like the other programs, it only has a few part-time faculty. One fully enrolled course was canceled because neither the full-time instructor nor the part-time instructor (he would have exceeded his maximum load) could teach it.
Strategy 4 - Equipment
We have extensive equipment needs. Some of this is to replace outmoded and/or unserviceable equipment and some of it is upgrades and some of it is simply to acquire more units due to more sections of a given class.
The Physical Sciences only work when students perform experiments. Therefore, specialized equipment and dedicated facilities are key components in every class we teach. Equipment must be maintained and calibrated and we have to continually replenish consumables like chemicals, glassware, carbonized paper, electrical components, testing samples, housekeeping materials, etc. Relentless improvements in technology, along with continual software upgrades, means we constnatly need to imporove the way we use our equipment, or replace it, or completely change the way we do experiments. All of this requires a large supply budget. We also have two full-time faculty who have old and/or underperforming computers. They were supposed to be funded this year, but the college coincidentally implemented its computer refresh program and that funding was rescinded. These machines are not scheduled to be replaced for at least another year. We would like IT and/or administration to consider replacing these machines.
Strategy 5 - Student Grader Money
As we continue to add sections and try to fulfill other tasks for the college (e.g., SLO assessment), it is becoming even more important for us to have sufficient funds available for student graders. The grader issue is especially dire in the Chemistry program. Given the proven meticulous pedagogy used by the Chemistry instructors and the large number of overloads they teach, the Chemistry program needs money to pay for more student graders. Due to the increase in the state's minimum wage, the college graciously awarded us more money, but their largesse has been insufficient to cover the anticipated grader budget. We've added three more sections to the Chemistry schedule in Fall 2016, so the problem will become even worse. Also, we had a tradtion of backfilling grader money with Chemistry Foundation monies, yet we no longer wish to do this since our loss of income from the sale of lab manuals means the account will quickly deplete. We need more money for student graders.
Mastery of the physical sciences requires focused attention on detail and the nurturing of analytical skills. Hence, grading lab reports and other work is necessary, yet very time-consuming for the instructors especially since many of us are on overload. Employing our successful students as graders yields three great benefits: 1) Students receive significantly more feedback with an increased level of detail and in a more timely manner than the instructor would be able to provide alone. 2) Instructors are better able to focus on student success and learning outcomes in their courses. 3) The student graders receive valuable training in analytical skills and physical intuition, as well as a source of income with a highly flexible schedule.
1.) lecture and laboratory space. We would like the college to consider remodeling the old Automotive building into labs. This could help to alleviate space issues for our department as well as Life Sciences until the new science building is finished.
2.) new seating in PS-131. The arrangement of chairs in our lecture room is less than ideal. We would like to replace them will chairs and tables that make it easier for students to move about. Since the room holds up to ninety (90) students, the current arrangement also raises safety concerns.
The department currently has NO external funding sources.
| Original Priority | Program, Unit, Area | Resource Type | Account Number | Object Code | One Time Augment | Ongoing Augment |
| Description | Supporting Rationale | Potential Alternative Funding Sources | Prioritization Criteria | |||
| 1 | Chemistry | Operating Expenses | $9,400.00 | $14,500.00 | ||
| Student Grader Money | Graded assignments are at the core of how Chemistry is taught. Students must receive feedback on assignments to correct errors in technique and concepts. Course content builds on previous understanding, so this process of learn, apply, correct, and understand is then applied to additional topics. The College’s support for student grading did not keep pace with increases in enrollment, so faculty began to add a small surcharge to faculty-produced lab manuals (with the blessing of the College’s administration) and used these funds to support the demand for grading. In 2014, this practice was suddenly stopped by the College administration. However, in spite of promises to replace the funding, no permanent solution to the loss of this support has come forward. This has had a significant negative impact on our educational programs, affecting our ability to achieve our Program Student Learning Outcomes. Laboratory reports and homework assignments are two major categories of graded assignments used to support student these SLOs. Laboratory experiments are critical for Chemistry Program SLOs #1 and #2. Students prepare for each experiment by reading the experimental introduction and procedure (including safety warnings). Many classes require that students complete a “pre-lab” that includes sample calculations and concept questions. The students then complete the experiment, and data is then used to determine the experiment’s results, which involves graphing and/or calculations using the data on the report. Finally, students are asked to interpret data, reflect on the experimental procedure, and answer concept questions based on their results (which applies to SLO#3). These reports provide the student important feedback on their understanding of the experiment and its concepts. Homework assignments address SLOs #2 and #3. Students are assigned reading in their text, and then directed to answer questions (in writing) about what they have read. Collecting and grading homework assignments is especially critical in entry-level chemistry classes, since the students may not yet understand the essential nature of hands-on learning in the natural sciences. In November 2015, an affective survey was administered to five different chemistry classes (310 responses) to assess the value of graded assignments to the students in those classes. These courses varied in whether homework was simply assigned (and not collected) or collected and graded and not all courses required pre-lab assignments. The results indicated that feedback is seen as being extremely important to students (80-100% responded this is always or sometimes true), and comments are especially helpful to them (87-94%). Timely feedback is critical to the students (90-100% as very important or important). Homework is also universally seen as essential in preparing for examinations (95-100% as true). Finally, pre-labs and especially graded lab reports are seen as valuable teaching and learning tools (80-97%). Select comments included: • When teachers write comments on my paper it really helps me to see what I have done wrong in the problem. • Having homework being fully graded, rather than only partly graded would be fantastic. It helps hone in on study issues. • It is concerning not to receive corrected assignments in a timely manner because it is hard to compare any progress. It is clear homework and reports that are graded, include comments, and are returned in a timely fashion, are at the core of student success in chemistry courses. It is not physically possible for instructors to fulfill this responsibility without help. A core part of our instructional program, fundamental to achieving student learning outcomes, has been supported by income from our lab manuals that we are no longer collecting. This has forced us to make uncomfortable pedagogical decisions based on this lack of support, and our ability to continue to provide effective instruction has been seriously compromised. |
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| 2 | Physics | Personnel | $99,187.00 | $99,187.00 | ||
| Full-time Physics Instructor | Our transfer level physics courses are full with wait lists. We have one part-time instructor who is currently teaching our fully enrolled Physical Science labs. Since the AS-T degree for Physics is in place, we are not meeting student need for transfer and completion. Also, two of the three full-time instructors are serving in leadership positions and this will continue for several more years. We've added extra sections to PHYS 41, PHYS 42, and PHYS 22 last year. These sections are now completely full, but again with wait lists. Our research of other California Community Colleges shows that we need to offer PHYS 21 and PHYS 22 and PHYS 43 each semester, not just once a year. That research also shows that we are seriously deficient in our astronomy offerings. Since we replaced the daytime astronomy course with the Honors section, we need to add it back into the schedule. These additions combined with our offering of the new PSC 12 (and very soon PSC 11) courses, supports at least one new full-time faculty position. We simply will not be able to teach all of these classes with three full-time faculty. |
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| 3 | Physics, Physical Science & Geology | Personnel | $11,000.00 | $11,000.00 | ||
| Twelve-month Senior Physical Sciences Laboratory Technician | Our Physical Sciences Senior Lab Technician is currently on a ten-month contract. He is unable to utilize the summer months to work on badly needed long-term projects. We want to recharacterize this position into a twelve-month one. Since we've added sections to the summer schedule and spring schedule and we plan to continue adding, we need to have a full-year technician. While Rusty is very good at juggling his various duties and assignments, he lacks to time to work on long-range projects over the summer. We have a growing list of physics and physical science demonstration equipment that we would like to have Rusty build and test and given the constraints he has during the normal academic year, these assignments can only be realized in a summer setting. |
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| 4 | Chemistry | Equipment | $3,000.00 | $3,000.00 | ||
| ChemDraw software | ChemDraw is software that allows for the creation of line-bond structure drawings that represent molecules, ions, chemical reactions, and a variety of other chemical species and processes. It is industry and academic-standard software that is utilized by chemistry instructors for the development of course materials (including handouts, laboratory experiments, and assessment items). It is also utilized by students in several chemistry courses for writing laboratory experiment reports. This software is instrumental in providing for the following course level SLOs: CHEM 2: B, C; CHEM 21: A, B, C; CHEM 22: A, B, C, D; and CHEM 52: A, B. This software was previously funded for many years by the proceeds from selling lab manuals authored by our department, which is no longer allowed by the College. In spite of promises to replace the funding, no permanent solution to the loss of this support has come forward. |
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| 5 | Chemistry | Equipment | $700.00 | $350.00 | ||
| FileMaker Pro | For the past decade, the Physical Sciences department has administered a site license for FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Server software. The site license allows the College to use 54 copies of FileMaker Pro, one copy of FileMaker Pro Advanced and 3 copies of FileMaker Server. This software is used throughout the campus, including the IT department. Users reimburse the Chemistry department for their licenses. This software is crucial for efficiently maintaining the chemistry data files, and for several administrative functions both within the department and campus-wide. Under the existing license, the cost of each FMP seat is $26.50/year, for FMPA it is $48, and for FMS it is $99. The out-of-license cost per copy to the College would be $329, $549 and $7163, respectively, or a cost of $39,804 for the campus, and $19,481 for our department. The current cost of our license is based on having over 50 FMP licenses; the cost per user increases if we fall below that number. Current cost to the College to maintain these licenses is $1818 per year for the entire campus. Due to recent losses of funding, we can no longer sustain the current administration of these licenses without College support. The Physical Sciences department is currently using 14 copies of FileMaker Pro, one copy of FileMaker Pro Advanced, and two copies of FileMaker Pro server. We renew the contract every two years, to take advantage of additional savings. For our department only, this cost is $620 per year (saving the College about $18,861). If we are to continue to administer the licenses for the College, the cost would be $1820 per year (saving the College about $38,000). This software was previously funded for many years by the proceeds from selling lab manuals authored by our department, which is no longer allowed by the College. In spite of promises to replace the funding, no permanent solution to the loss of this support has come forward. |
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| 6 | Geology | Personnel | $99,187.00 | $99,187.00 | ||
| Full-time Geology Instructor | The Geology program now has its AS-T degree in place. Enrollments in all Geology classes are healthy at both the Main Campus and the Chico Center. However, we only have one full-time Geology instructor and two part-time instructors. The full-timer is frequently on overload since he is also needed to teach a Physical Science course. One of the part-timers can only teach a single section, while the other part-time instructor is also needed in another Physical Science course. This poses two problems: one, it is hard for a lone full-time instructor to offer comprehensive and effective leadership to the program; and, two, it is not possible for us to expand our schedule with current personnel. We added an extra section of GEOL 32 to each of the Fall and Spring schedules, but ended up having to cancel the one in Spring since no one was available to teach it. This was a fully enrolled section. We have also added GEOL 34 to the schedule. While it was taught Fall 2015, it was cancelled Spring 2016 due to low enrollment. We are currently thinking of ways to ensure that the class will fill if offered both semesters. We need a full-time instructor to help prevent the cancellation of sections and to teach the extra sections we anticipate to add in the next few years due to the AS-T degree. |
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| 7 | Physics | Equipment | $7,500.00 | $0.00 | ||
| Coulomb's Law Apparatus | We currently have one (1) of these devices. Coulomb's law serves a foundational role for the entire electromagnetism section in PHYS 42 and PHYS 22. One device is good for demonstration purposes, but it does not suffice for twenty-four students trying to obtain data. We need five (5) more at an approximate unit price of $1500. |
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| 8 | Physics | Equipment | $9,000.00 | $0.00 | ||
| High Voltage Power Supply | The Coulomb's Law Apparatus each requires a high-voltage power source to generate sufficiently strong electric fields from which students can gather meaningful data. We have one (1) now, and we need five (5) more at an approximate unit price of $1500. Note: Our existing apparatus uses an unwieldy combination of decrepit power supplies. We want to upgrade the power supply for this apparatus. |
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| 9 | Chemistry | Equipment | $2,500.00 | $0.00 | ||
| UV-Vis Detector | The LabQuest device is a key component in CHEM 51, CHEM 1 and CHEM 2. The detector hooks into the LabQuest and it is designed for obtaining ultraviolet and visible signals for various experiments. These will allow us to collect quantitative data in experiments that rely on light absorption by matter, including using Beer’s Law experiments, and experiments examining complex ions. The latter experiment now relies on determining wavelength using a color wheel. Currently, students who are colorblind or visually impaired require assistance in collecting data for experiments that rely on color perception; these would remove that barrier. (Program SLO #1 and #2). These devices can also help students grasp the concept of color subtraction in spectroscopy, which is both non-trivial and nonintuitive (SLO #3). Since spectroscopy is such a widespread phenomenon in science, we expect the spectrometers will be useful throughout the Physical Sciences curriculum. This request is for five (5) of these detectors. |
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| 10 | Chemistry | Equipment | $9,300.00 | $0.00 | ||
| Organic Chemistry Glassware | Organic Chemistry courses have special glassware requirements. We want to secure a dedicated set of glassware for use in CHEM 21 and CHEM 22 without having to worry about the attrition of the general glassware in the other Chemistry classes. This glassware is necessary for students to perform experimental work and supports the following course level SLOs: CHEM 21: D, E; CHEM 22: D, E. |
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| 11 | Chemistry, Geology, Physics, and Physical Science | Equipment | $75,000.00 | $2,000.00 | ||
| Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) | The ability to view microscopic structures enhances the scientific experience for all students. We have identified various useful projects for an the SEM in the following classes in our department as well as in Biology, Nursing, Welding, Art, and Automotive: PHYS 10, 11, 21, 22, 41, 42, 43; PSC 20; GEOL 32, 34; BIOL 1, 2, 11, 12, 13, 15; ENGR 17, 45; NSG24; WLD 20; AUT 9; and ART 86D, |
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