This paper reports a comparison of
a group of higher- and lower-achieving
undergraduate chemistry students, 17 in total, as separated on their
ability in stoichiometry. This exploratory study of 17 students investigated
parallels and differences in the students’ general and domain-specific
cognitive abilities. Performance, strategies, and mistakes in the
students’ problem solving in the field of stoichiometry were
also investigated in detail. The study revealed that the major difference
between higher- and lower-achieving students lies in their cognitive
skills, especially in domain-specific (mole concept) skills and the
ability to deal with complexity. Results suggest that a thoroughly
differentiated set of tasks be applied in the undergraduate chemistry
classroom: tasks with limited complexity and structured help or scaffolding
are needed for lower-achieving students, whereas complex and abstract
tasks are needed to challenge the higher-achieving students.