Students’ Procedure When Solving Problem Tasks Based on the Periodic Table: An Eye-Tracking Study

Abstract

This work is focused on upper-secondary school students' ability to use the periodic table of elements to solve problem tasks. Eye-tracking and retrospective think-aloud methods were used to evaluate the reasoning behind the students' (N = 8) performance, i.e., to map the strategies they used and problems they faced when solving the tasks. The data from the eye-tracker were submitted to a quantitative analysis−time fixation duration evaluation on predefined areas of interest. The think-aloud method supporting the eye-tracking record together with the students' transitions also enabled a qualitative analysis of the students' procedure. Most of the students failed the tasks. The main reason was their lack of fundamental knowledge together with low reading and problem-solving skills, in addition to a lack of motivation to solve more demanding tasks. Their knowledge and ability to use the periodic table was proved insufficient to the corresponding curricular objective. The students mostly used expansive strategies, however, due to some problems (e.g., low prior knowledge, misunderstanding, or inattentive reading), they used limiting strategies (e.g., deducing from the task structure or guessing answers), and failed the tasks. These results offer a solid foundation for subsequent steps toward improving classroom practice, which stresses the need to focus on problem-solving and strategy development more during (chemistry) lessons. Also, the results call for extra support for the periodic table's teaching conception.

“Do you just have to know that?” Novice and experts’ procedure when solving science problem tasks

“…The data were analyzed with the use of IMB SPSS completed with the retrospective-think aloud recordings, as well as interviews. Both were recorded, transcribed verbatim and coded using the set of codes for students' strategies taken from previous studies (Rusek et al, 2019;Tóthová et al, 2021). They were then divided according to Ogilvie (2009)-expansive and limiting.…”

“…Their results showed that the differences lied in the successful solvers' focus on relevant factors, whereas the unsuccessful showed a higher frequency of observing irrelevant factors. In a similarly targeted study, (Tóthová et al, 2021) identified the reasons for unsuccessful problem-solving in chemistry on an example of their periodic table use. Apart from focusing on irrelevant factors, the use of limiting strategies and problems with reading was identified as the main problems.…”

“…To elucidate the process of problem-solving, think-aloud (Rusek et al, 2019) and eye-tracking (Tsai et al, 2012) proved to be sufficient methods. With a combination of these methods, students' procedures in solving tasks can be described in more detail see e.g., Tóthová et al (2021). A more in-depth analysis and investigation into the reasons for a student's choice of a given answer can be an indicator to further develop the monitored competences.…”

How teacher enthusiasm affects students’ learning of chemistry declarative knowledge in video lectures

“…Since Havanki and VandenPlas (2014) introduced eye-tracking technology into chemistry education research formally and regarded it as a useful and valuable tool for interpreting results more scientifically, more and more studies have chosen to use this visual survey tool in recent years, but there are still few studies related to the field of video teaching. With the help of eye-tracking technology, chemistry education researchers can explore learners' visual attention and cognitive processes while completing different tasks (Karch et al, 2019;Tang and Pienta, 2022), problem-solving methods and strategies (Tothova et al, 2021;VandenPlas et al, 2021), confirmation of setup demonstration principles (Nehring and Busch, 2020), understanding of chemical phenomena (Hansen et al, 2019), perceptual navigation patterns (Pande and Chandrasekharan, 2022) and some other aspects.…”

To What Extent do Freshmen University Chemistry Students Master Chemistry Calculations?

“…Research showed that pupils have significant gaps in this area. 12 With the obstacle constituted by the difficulty of chemistry concepts and the need to select only the most important, 13 supportive formulas to work with the commonly used rules were also suggested. 14 Secondly, students' results can be affected by the tasks' context which is carried by text.…”