Do community college introductory chemistry students have adequate mathematics skills?

1979 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. 329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond D. Perkins
Keyword(s):  
Community College ◽  
Introductory Chemistry ◽  
Chemistry Students ◽  
Mathematics Skills

Inducing formal thought in introductory chemistry students

1981 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert D. Kavanaugh ◽  
William R. Moomaw
Keyword(s):  
Introductory Chemistry ◽  
Chemistry Students

Linking a hierarchy of attitude effect to student engagement and chemistry achievement

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 357-370
Author(s):  
James Ross ◽  
Evelyn Guerra ◽  
Sheila Gonzalez-Ramos
Keyword(s):  
Student Engagement ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Influential Factors ◽  
Exam Score ◽  
Introductory Chemistry ◽  
Chemistry Students ◽  
Chemistry Achievement ◽  
Allied Health Students ◽  
Chemistry Learning ◽  
The Subject

There are numerous influential factors contributing to students’ successful learning in introductory chemistry courses. One popularized factor is mathematical preparedness as gauged by a prerequisite mathematics grade or a standardized exam score. Less well known factors are students’ attitude toward the subject of chemistry or students’ involvement with chemistry. In this replication and extension study, students’ attitude in introductory chemistry courses, including a chemistry course designed for nursing and allied health students, was measured using the Attitude toward the Subject of Chemistry Inventory. Results show that a low-involvement hierarchy of attitude effect for students’ attitude toward chemistry, previously observed after 5 weeks, persists throughout a semester, and is likely widespread in classes across our department. Results also suggest a measurable difference between students’ emotional satisfaction with chemistry and their emotional attachment to chemistry, the latter of which is connected with their engagement with chemistry rather than their achievement in chemistry. Students’ low-involvement influence on chemistry achievement is being mediated predominantly by the affective subcomponent of their attitude. Attitudes are learned and a low-involvement hierarchy of attitude effect is susceptible to positive change. The results presented herein cement the reliability and generality of previous findings and extend those findings. The hierarchy of attitude effect can serve as a bifocal lens to capture evidence of students’ engagement with chemistry learning (learning process) as well as their chemistry achievement (learning product).

“Combustion always produces carbon dioxide and water”: a discussion of university chemistry students' use of rules in place of principles

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 763-776
Author(s):  
Amy D. Robertson ◽  
Peter S. Shaffer
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Chemical Reactions ◽  
Molecular Level ◽  
Explanatory Models ◽  
Introductory Chemistry ◽  
Chemistry Students ◽  
Conservation Principles ◽  
Written Questions

On the basis of responses to written questions administered to more than one thousand introductory chemistry students, we claim that students often rotely apply memorized combustion rules instead of reasoning based on explanatory models for what happens at the molecular level during chemical reactions. In particular, many students argue that combustion produces carbon dioxide and/or water, even when the reactants do not contain hydrogen or carbon, an answer that is inconsistent with the principle of atom conservation. Our study also corroborates the finding that students frequently say that oxygen is “necessary for” or “used in” combustion reactions without connecting this reasoning to conservation principles, suggesting that this likewise may be a rotely applied, memorized rule.

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