The Irish government’s expansion policy on education has resulted in much higher numbers taking up higher education than ever before.In the year 2007 50-55% of 17-18 year olds entered higher education, with the goal being to reach 72% by the year 2020. While these larger numbers are seen as progression and improvement in the education system, it does lead to the problem of a very diverse group of students in higher education. It is important, with groups of wide ability that we ensure the weaker students do not get lost or left behind1 In the first two years of study of Science in the University of Limerick there are widely diverse classes, due to differing entry qualifications required from students.Entry to these Science courses is possible with low grades in Mathematics and Science from second level.2 Those who have not done a specific Science at second level are often left behind, as they lack the necessary Science background The 2nd. Year Chemistry module that we examined has a failure rate of 30-40% at the first sitting. It is taken by students from five different degree courses (A-E). The two courses ‘A’ and ‘B’ accounted for 95% of failures in the year 2007. One reason for this is that the cut off points for courses ‘A’ and ‘B’ are lower than those of the other courses taking the module. Another reason may be that there are a large percentage of mature students in both of these groups and both of these groups have completed little if any Chemistry at senior cycle. The aim of this intervention project is to try to help a group of students, identified as weak, to cope with introductory Chemistry courses.The following research questions have guided this project: • Can diagnostic concept tests identifying students’ prior chemical knowledge and misconceptions, be used to design successfully an intervention programme? • How students’ attitudes and confidence in the area of Chemistry affect their relationship to performance? • Does this targeted intervention have an effect on the students’ overall performance pre- and post-concept tests? • Does attendance at the intervention programme made a difference in students’ overall performance on the course? • To what degree does student attendance at both the intervention sessions and lectures affect student performance?

A pilot intervention programme was designed for these two groups of students in the first semester of the 2008-9 academic year. This intervention programme ran for nine weeks and attendance was optional.The limitation of this was that we were only able to measure the performance of those who took both the pre- and post-test. A pre- and post- diagnostic test of Chemical concepts and misconceptions was designed and administered in the first and last session. A sample question from both the pre and post diagnostic tests is shown in figure 1. The test also included an instrument measuring student attitudes and confidence towards science. The attitude tests were designed using the Likert scale3. The pre- diagnostic concept tests were used to design the intervention programme in order to meet the students’ specific needs. The students were taken in small class groups, rather than the larger lecture type style of class.

The results based on this intervention show, on average, a positive trend in both conceptual understanding and confidence levels. Results indicate that 76% of students in both groups who did both tests improved in their post diagnostic test performance, indicating that for the vast majority of the class the programme was beneficial.The majority of those who improved (72%) had good attendance records. However, this was an optional programme and while the results are encouraging, poor attendance in both the main module and in the intervention programme does affect the results.Those students who took the intervention programme had a significantly lower failure rate in the final course exam than those who did not.We intend to run a similar intervention programme for the same groups of students in their first year of study, in order to equip them from the beginning of their course with the basic chemical understanding that they need.