EXAMINING THE CONNECTION BETWEEN STUDENTS’ WORKING MEMORY AND THEIR ABILITIES TO SOLVE OPEN-ENDED CHEMISTRY PROBLEMS

Johnson E. Upahi; Umesh Ramnarain

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EXAMINING THE CONNECTION BETWEEN STUDENTS’ WORKING MEMORY AND THEIR ABILITIES TO SOLVE OPEN-ENDED CHEMISTRY PROBLEMS

Title	EXAMINING THE CONNECTION BETWEEN STUDENTS’ WORKING MEMORY AND THEIR ABILITIES TO SOLVE OPEN-ENDED CHEMISTRY PROBLEMS
Publication Type	Journal Article
Year of Publication	2020
Authors	Upahi, JE, Ramnarain, U
Journal	Journal of Baltic Science Education
Volume	19
Issue	1
Start Page	142-156
Pagination	Continuous
Date Published	February/2020
Type of Article	Original article
ISSN	1648-3898
Other Numbers	E-ISSN 2538-7138
Keywords	chemistry problem-solving, open-ended problems, university students, working memory
Abstract	Open-ended problem-solving skills have been identified as employable skills, which undergraduate students will need to have in order to cope with real-life problems in their workplaces after graduation. However, the development and assessment of these skills have been inconsistent across courses offered in universities. This research examined undergraduate students’ ability to engage with open-ended chemistry problems, and the influence of their working memory space on problem solving. The research is a descriptive research design that employed a survey method for collection data. A purposive sampling technique was used to recruit 665 students from 19 chemistry departments in Nigerian universities. The students’ ability to solve open-ended problems was measured in terms of their performance and was found to be below average (< 50). The female students outperformed their male counterparts in the chemistry open-ended problem-solving test (ChemOPST). A strong positive correlation was found to exist between students’ working memory capacity and their performance in the ChemOPST. The research concludes on the need for experiential-based learning of chemical concepts which could help students build a knowledge base that is required to engage with problems that have real-life applications.
URL	http://oaji.net/articles/2020/987-1581269978.pdf
DOI	10.33225/jbse/20.19.142
Refereed Designation	Refereed
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