An Investigation of the Factors Influencing Student Performance in Physical Chemistry

Abstract

A variety of diagnostics were administered to students enrolled in a first-semester physical chemistry course throughout the course of the semester: the Group Assessment of Logical Thinking (GALT), a math skills assessment, an inventory of student perceptions of the course, an inventory of student perceptions of math, and a survey of the students' past history in chemistry and math courses. The responses from these diagnostics were then correlated to students' achievement in the class. A correlation analysis revealed significant relationships between students' grades and their performance on the GALT as well as on several of the math problem solving questions from the math skills assessment ( p < .05). It appears that achievement in a physical chemistry course designed for chemistry fields is significantly related to students' logical thinking skills, rather than to their previous chemistry knowledge, math exposure, or attitudes toward the course.

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