Identifying the challenging characteristics of systems thinking encountered by undergraduate students in chemistry problem-solving of gas laws

Abstract

Systems thinking has been an educational priority for more than a decade, yet its related assessment and teaching strategies have been understudied in the chemistry education research community. Through the lens of systems thinking, this study explores how undergraduate students connect and translate their conceptual representations when they are involved in contextualised problem-solving. The ‘Contextualised Problem Solving’ (CPS) assessment instrument contains four open-ended questions about gas law. Three different cohorts of students registered in a physical science course (2016 Fall, 2017 Spring, 2017 Fall semesters) participated in the problem-solving component of CPS. The results showed that only 8% of students were capable of higher order systems thinking ability when they engaged in problem solving. Over half of the students failed to retrieve essential concepts in problem situations. Most of the participants demonstrated difficulties in organising related systems’ components, understanding the cyclic nature of relationships among systems, and identifying limitations in a specific problem context. By identifying the difficulties and challenges of systems thinking experienced by undergraduate students in solving complex chemistry problems, these findings have the potential to provide fresh insights into effective teaching strategies to promote students’ higher order thinking skills.

The Science of Human Health—A Context-Based Chemistry Course for Non-Science Majors Incorporating Systems Thinking

“…This is encouraging and suggests that the approaches used in this course were effective at engaging students with the subject. This feedback is consistent with what has been demonstrated in the research literature on both context-based − and systems thinking approaches. − Written feedback from students was also strongly positive:The projects helped me research deeper into some matters. This requirement enriched my knowledge on the subject.…”

Developing and assessing pre- and in-service science and engineering teachers’ systems thinking and modeling skills through an asynchronous online course

“…Although a considerable number of studies have examined the development and assessment of systems thinking in different STEM education settings (e.g., Assaraf and Orion, 2005;Gero and Zach, 2014;, the teaching and instruction of this important concept are at best mainly implicit, and students struggle when faced with a topic that requires a high degree of systems thinking (Arnold and Wade, 2017;Chen et al, 2019;Talanquer, 2019). Explicit instruction about complex systems and systems thinking concepts can lead to the deepening of knowledge and understanding and the transfer of these concepts among students (Goldstone, 2006;Hung, 2008), as well as teachers (Yoon et al, 2017).…”

Integrating Systems Thinking into Teaching Emerging Technologies

“…Initial reports have shown promise in utilizing this strategy of reasoning for college students to think about societal problems such as mitigating lead pollution in drinking water or learning organic chemistry . However, other findings have revealed the limitations of students to correctly apply higher-order systems thinking to fundamental science concepts such as the ideal gas law . Thus, the promising potential of systems thinking to address longstanding conceptualization and learning difficulties in chemical education , must also be paired with a transparent conversation about possible challenges and effective strategies to adapt a course to utilize this framework.…”

“…35 However, other findings have revealed the limitations of students to correctly apply higher-order systems thinking to fundamental science concepts such as the ideal gas law. 36 Thus, the promising potential of systems thinking to address longstanding conceptualization and learning difficulties in chemical education 37,38 must also be paired with a transparent conversation about possible challenges and effective strategies to adapt a course to utilize this framework. While our discussion is certainly not comprehensive, we now shift from our specific course to present several foreseeable challenges for both instructors and students and some corresponding teaching strategies to address them.…”