Designing Interactive Instructional Software: Students as Educators

This paper reviews a project conducted as part of a general chemistry course. The primary goal of the assignment was to involve our students in the process of teaching chemistry. Our work is part of STEMTEC, the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Teacher Education Collaborative, which has been developed to improve the preparation of preservice teachers, stimulate the interest of undergraduate science and mathematics majors in the teaching profession, and increase the educational effectiveness of science and mathematics courses. The assigned project required students to create an interactive computer module that could be used to educate other students about concepts taught in general chemistry. The paper includes examples of these modules and evaluates this method of instruction. The software programs designed by the students are available for download from the Internet ().