Research on Problem Solving in Chemistry

Abstract

Slightly more than 40 years ago, the author first encountered a disturbing phenomenon. No matter what he did, a significant fraction of the bright, hard-working science and engineering students in his college-level general chemistry course had difficulty solving what he thought were relatively “simple” problems they encountered on quizzes and exams. When he first began doing chemical educational research (CER), he, therefore, focused on problem solving in chemistry. The literature on this topic is now so large it would be impossible to review. This chapter, therefore, focuses on the evolution of a model of problem solving developed by the author's research group, which is (i) consistent with the results of studies of how successful problem solvers work novel problems, (ii) teachable in the sense that students who adopt it become better problem solvers, and (iii) transferrable to courses for which chemistry is a prerequisite. In addition to providing insight into possible ways in which instructors can help students develop their problem-solving skills, the chapter might be useful for individuals interested in doing discipline-based educational research because it describes the process by which our research in this content domain has evolved over the course of more than 30 years.

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