Examining students' inclinations to use algorithms and rules to solve a task was a fruitful area of research in chemical education in the last four decades. This research aimed to examine whether students read the task request carefully, considering its meaningfulness, or they approach it mechanically, applying a set of algorithms by default. The…

Stoichiometry calculation competence tends to be particularly poor in the developing world, even among teachers. Various methods, including the unit factor method, have the potential to be effective in developing such competence. To evaluate the likelihood of such a generic proportion method, which downplays traditional formula usage, succeeding…

There has been widespread interest in the study of oxoacids of phosphorus owing to their characteristic structures and uses in various areas of daily life. In this article, a new strategy is recommended to determine their structures. This strategy will help to develop problem-solving skills and creativity among students. The strategy is based on…

The subject of buffer solutions in chemistry is a challenging concept for students to learn due to its abstract nature. The difficulties that students face in learning about buffer solutions can lead to poor performance and alternative conceptions about the topic. The development of successful conceptual understanding to solve buffer solution…

In this paper, I discuss undergraduate students' engagement in basic Python programming while solving combinatorial problems. Students solved tasks that were designed to involve programming, and they were encouraged to engage in activities of prediction and reflection. I provide data from two paired teaching experiments, and I outline how the task…

This paper describes the implementation of problem-based learning in chemical education with regard to the impact that protolytic reactions have on equilibria. The problem-based task presented here is focused on extremely weak acids and calcuation of the pH value of their aqueous solutions. The task is based on comparisons of K[subscript a] ranges…

The objective of this work was to evaluate the implementation of a metavisual strategy for students to revise and self-regulate concepts arising in a study of a chemical reaction between ions. For this purpose, two chemistry education undergraduate students at a Brazilian public university carried out an investigative activity, involving…

Concentration of solutions problems are among the most important and at the same time one of the most challenging topics in chemistry. The aim of this study was to determine the sources of the difficulty that students often face when performing calculations related to concentration. The study involved 153 tertiary college students (food science,…

This interdisciplinary study sketches the ways in which proportional reasoning is involved in the solution of chemistry problems, more specifically, problems involving quantities in chemical reactions (commonly referred to as stoichiometry problems). By building on the expertise of both mathematics and chemistry education research, the present…

Nearly 50 years ago, Henry Bent published his groundbreaking article in this "Journal" introducing the "global" formulation of thermodynamics. In the following years, the global formulation was elaborated by Bent and by one of the present authors. The global formulation of the first law focuses on conservation of energy and the recognition that…

The international literature suggests students frequently resort to the use of formulae when solving stoichiometry problems without understanding the concepts. In prior work we identified Thai student alternative conceptions and ability to solve numerical problem for stoichiometry. The results indicate that many Thai students also hold alternative…

A series of well-defined steps is given for solving titrimetric problems, based on the mole concept. An example is given, including calculations from the first step to the last. (SA)

Describes two chemistry computer programs: (1) "Eureka: A Chemistry Problem Solver" (problem files may be written by the instructor, MS-DOS 2.0, IBM with 384K); and (2) "PC-File+" (database management, IBM with 416K and two floppy drives). (MVL)

One of the modules in the course Food Chemistry at Wageningen University (Wageningen, The Netherlands) focuses on quantitative problem-solving skills related to chemical reactions. The intended learning outcomes of this module are firstly, to be able to translate practical food chemistry related problems into mathematical equations and to solve…