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“It’s all just a bit too much!” Exploring the use of taught interventions to develop students’ word problem solving strategies in post-16 chemistry

Abstract:
Mathematical problems in post-16 chemistry courses such as stoichiometry problems can be challenging for a number of students. By viewing these chemistry problems as mathematical word problems, this study explored the extent to which taught interventions developed students’ chemistry word problem solving strategies. Employing a practitioner research approach with a mixed methods design, the study consisted of three main phases: the pre-intervention, the text editing intervention, and the visual representations intervention. Following the intervention phases, analysis of responses to the problems showed an improvement in the structure and coherence of students’ problem-solving strategies. This was also accompanied by improvements in performance in relation to the proportion of problem steps attempted and completed correctly. Additionally, perceived difficulty had decreased slightly, and perceived confidence had increased slightly. Improvements in students’ problem-solving strategies and performance are proposed to be due to the interventions enabling the development of problem-solving schema, which resulted in a reduction in cognitive load. Finally, four profiles are suggested in relation to chemistry word problem solving: innovative expertise, localised proficiency, aspirational beginner and opportunistic novice.

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Institution:
University of Oxford
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Author

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Type of award:
MSc taught course
Level of award:
Masters
Awarding institution:
University of Oxford

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