CHEMISTRY EDUCATION: RESEARCH AND PRACTICE IN EUROPE 2002, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 5-17	RESEARCH REPORT (a) Concepts; (b) Problem solving and other higher-order cognitive skills (HOCS)

Margarita KOUSATHANA and Georgios TSAPARLIS
University of Ioannina, Department of Chemistry

STUDENTS' ERRORS IN SOLVING NUMERICAL CHEMICAL-EQUILIBRIUM PROBLEMS

ABSTRACT: Chemical-equilibrium problems are among the most important and at the same time most complex and difficult general-chemistry problems. In this paper, errors made by the students, while solving such problems, are discussed. These errors are of two kinds: (i) 'random' errors caused by hastiness, or by thoughtlessness, or by an overload of working memory, or by field dependence or a combination of the above factors. (ii) 'systematic' errors that are caused by misconception(s) or by a difficulty in understanding of the underlying theory, concepts, or processes. Students in their final upper-secondary school year (age 17-18), attending an elective chemistry course, participated (N = 120-148, depending on the question). The errors that were detected were categorised into five categories: (1) the equilibrium constant; (2) stoichiometry; (3) heterogeneous equilibria; (4) the direction of a reaction which is not at equilibrium (the disturbance of the chemical equilibrium); (5) gas equilibria and the ideal-gas law. [Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. Eur.: 2002, 3, 5-17]

KEY WORDS: problem solving; chemical-equilibrium problems; misconceptions; errors in chemical-equilibrium problem solving; misconceptions in chemical-equilibrium problem solving

CORRESPONDENCE: Georgios TSAPARLIS, University of Ioannina, Department of Chemistry, GR-451 10 Ioannina, Greece; fax: +30 651 98798; e-mail: gtseper@cc.uoi.gr

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