Investigated was the relation between student ability to translate sentences into equations, equations into sentences, and student performance in formal operational reasoning, proportional reasoning, and introductory-level chemistry. Results indicate that students who lack formal operational skills may experience problems in the translation of…

Determined was the effect that cooperative groups heterogeneously based on proportional reasoning ability have on problem solving in regular and honors high school chemistry. Characteristics of successful and unsuccessful problem solvers individually and in groups are discussed. (KR)

A large proportion of college students majoring in science are unable to translate even simple sentences into algebraic equations. Given the following sentence, "There are six times as many students (S) as professors (P) at this university," 37% of 150 freshmen engineering students in a study conducted in 1981 by Clement, Lockhead, and Monk wrote…

Reports on a study intended to establish a relationship between the M-space (mental energy) and the M-demand (the variable difficulties of Piagetian tasks presumed to entail the same logical structure) of different items of general chemistry. Recommends that chemistry teachers consider the role of cognitive factors in determining student success.…