The first courses freshman university students typically enroll in are the introductory science and math, courses that bridge from and build upon their prior educational experiences. These introductory courses often have large enrollment lectures coupled with supplemental sessions to teach using traditional educational practices, which may operate counter to the attitudes and culture of the students who take them. To address this, the general chemistry faculty through collaboration with a team of educational specialists initiated a redesign of the general chemistry course, which primarily serves first-year undergraduates. The redesign efforts included changes such as reducing lecture time and placing emphasis on increased time spent in the more student centered recitation sections in addition to the generation of online course participation options geared towards students that are more independent. This redesign of a first-year general chemistry course offers useful insights and guidance towards redesigning other similar science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses.

This dissertation describes efforts to redesign the general chemistry gatekeeper course at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T;) through the implementation of a student-choice model allowing students to choose a course participation option that best suits their learning needs. Student performance in multiple grade categories was analyzed using statistical methods to determine the influence of changes throughout the redesign. The findings from this study indicated that the student choice model was successful in achieving goals of improving course efficiency and increasing student accommodation with no detriment to student performance.