Creative writing assignments can better reach students with differing learning styles. The incorporation of creative writing exercises into introductory chemistry courses and their effects on student performance will be described.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Creative writing is an effective way to cement understanding of chemistry concepts; 2. Engaging in creative writing leads to better exam performance; and 3. Creative writing exercises increase critical-thinking skills.

SPEAKERS:
Donald Carpenetti (Craven Community College: New Bern, NC)

Discover several strategies for developing well-written multiple-choice questions that can assess higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Multiple-choice exams can assess higher-order cognitive skills and increase student learning gains; 2. Developing these types of multiple-choice questions is easier than you might think; and 3. Our higher-order multiple-choice questions are practically "Google proof,” making them ideal for online exams.

SPEAKERS:
Tarren Shaw (The University of Oklahoma: Norman, OK), Donald French (Oklahoma State University: Stillwater, OK)

Museum staff and education professors will present a multi-state service-learning project. Attendees will brainstorm experiential learning partnerships for preservice teacher in their own communities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will: 1. learn about a multi-state service-learning project completed by elementary education preservice teachers enrolled in Creative Writing and Science Methods courses (at a rural university in Texas) for a Musuem of Natural Sciences (in North Carolina), completed entirely online during the global pandemic; 2. learn about the benefits of service-learning projects for future science educators, local organizations, and local communities…including how the PSTs’ lesson plans met Next Generation Science Standards; and 3. be prompted to consider possible experiential learning partnerships for preservice teachers based on the known needs of their local community organizations. Presenters (including museum staff and university professors) will offer tips for those ideas shared.

SPEAKERS:
Lauren Burrow (Stephen F. Austin State University: Nacogdoches, TX), Tonya Jeffery (University of Houston - Downtown: Houston, TX)