Supplemental Instruction

CSME is proud to offer Supplemental Instruction (SI) workshops, a series of one-unit courses designed to support student learning in many historically difficult Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Math, and Engineering courses in the College of Science and Engineering courses at San Francisco State University. Students in a Supplemental Instruction course must be concurrently enrolled in the corresponding primary course. For example, any student enrolled in SCI 115, Science Concepts: Chemistry I must also be enrolled in Chemistry 115, General Chemistry I.

Why take a SI Course?

Class Format

Instruction is mainly through hands-on, and interactive group work. The class meets once per week for 75 minutes. Course size is limited to 20-25 seats so that students can work together in small groups. It is important to note that SI is NOT homework or tutoring time. SI Instructors are present to facilitate the workshop and foster a collaborative learning environment where students feel comfortable sharing their ideas and learn how to integrate course content with reasoning and study skills.

Collaborative Learning

Collaborative learning refers to a situation in which two or more people attempt to learn something together. Unlike individual learning, students engaged in collaborative learning take advantage of one another's knowledge and skills to get a better understanding of the material.

In SI, students engage in a common task related to the material covered in the lecture course and, in the process, develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills.