Thinking Processes Associated with Undergraduate Chemistry Students’ Success at Applying a Molecular-Level Model in a New Context

Abstract

This study investigated relationships between the thinking processes that 28 undergraduate chemistry students engaged in during guided discovery and their subsequent success at reasoning through a transfer problem during an end-of-semester interview. During a guided-discovery laboratory module, students were prompted to use words, pictures, and symbols to make their mental models of chemical compounds added to water explicit, both prior to the start (initial model) and at the end (refined model) of the module. Based on their responses to these model assignments, we characterized students’ knowledge and thinking processes, including the extent to which individual students engaged in (a) constructing molecular-level models that were consistent with experimental evidence; (b) constructing molecular-level models that progressed toward scientific accuracy; (c) constructing molecular-level models that were scientifically correct; (d) making connections between laboratory observations and the molecular-level behavior of particles; (e) accurate metacognitive monitoring of how their molecular-level models changed; and (f) using evidence to justify model refinements. Analyses revealed three thinking processes that were strongly associated with correct reasoning in the transfer context during an end-of-semester interview: constructing molecular-level models that were consistent with experimental evidence, engaging in accurate metacognitive monitoring, and using evidence to justify model refinements. The extent of student engagement in these three key thinking processes predicted correct reasoning in a new context better than the scientific correctness of a student’s content knowledge prior to instruction. Although we did not explore causal relationships, these results suggest that integrating activities that promote the key thinking processes identified into instruction may improve students’ understanding and success at transfer.

A Systematic Review: How are Mental Model of Chemistry Concepts?

“…This is reinforced by the opinion of Griffiths and Preston [55] who claimed that students' misconceptions may result from formal instruction and the interaction between teachers and students. For instance, inappropriate teaching strategies and teachers' own misconceptions may result in students' misconceptions [56,57]. In addition, researchers mentioned some problematic representations shown in textbooks.…”

Metacognição e as Atividades Experimentais em Ciências: Análise da Produção em Periódicos Estrangeiros

“…Em Kung e Linder (2007) -T5, a metacognição foi associada a julgamento e avaliação da cognição, como ressaltado por Georghiades (2004), todavia, o trabalho confere importância à componente de autorregular a ação como forma de revisão e julgamento dessa ação. Teichert et al (2017) -T18, por sua vez, relatam que as atividades impulsionavam os estudantes a monitorar e regular seu próprio pensamento e aprendizagem, explicando como e por que revisaram seus modelos iniciais. Os pesquisadores não especificam autores que tratam da metacognição, todavia, seu entendimento traz a compreensão da metacognição como uma ação executiva e associada ao monitoramento e ao controle dessa ação.…”

“…Os pesquisadores não especificam autores que tratam da metacognição, todavia, seu entendimento traz a compreensão da metacognição como uma ação executiva e associada ao monitoramento e ao controle dessa ação. A metacognição, para Teichert et al (2017), é utilizada para explicar como as evidências refutaram (ou confirmaram) os modelos iniciais, implicando no refinamento (ou não) do modelo final, e, como entendimento de metacognição, os autores apontam a presença das componentes autorregulatórias da ação.…”

Upper Secondary School and University Level Students’ Perceptions of Extractions in Context: Experiences from a Simple Laboratory Experiment

“…In the questions we aimed to assess the students' retention and application of the previous knowledge in a new context. (Reid & Yang 2002, Teichert et al 2017 The students were provided with a photo taken of 4 different food dyes which were dissolved in 1-octanol and extracted once with water (ESI 2). This photo clearly showed the different partitioning of the food colors between the four dyes in the 1-octanol and water layers.…”