REASONING STRATEGIES OF STUDENTS IN SOLVING CHEMISTRY PROBLEMS AS A FUNCTION OF DEVELOPMENTAL LEVEL, FUNCTIONAL M-CAPACITY AND DISEMBEDDINGABILITY

Achievement in science depends among other factors on hypothetico-dedu ctive reasoning ability, that is, developmental level of the students. Recent research indicates that the developmental level of students sh ould be studied along with individual difference variables, such as Pa scual-Leone's M-capacity (information processing) and Witkin's Cogniti ve Style (disembedding ability). The purpose of this study is to inves tigate reasoning strategies of students in solving chemistry problems as a function of developmental level, functional M-capacity and disemb edding ability. A sample of 109 freshman students were administered te sts of formal operational reasoning, functional M-capacity, disembeddi ng ability and chemistry problems (limiting reagent, mole, gas laws). Results obtained show that students who scored higher on cognitive pre dictor variables not only have a better chance of solving chemistry pr oblems, but also demonstrated greater understanding and used reasoning strategies indicative of explicit problem-solving procedures based on the hypothetico-deductive method, manipulation of essential informati on and sensitivity to misleading information. It was also observed tha t students who score higher on cognitive predictor variables tend to a nticipate important aspects of the problem situation by constructing g eneral figurative and operative models, leading to a greater understan ding. Students scoring low on cognitive predictor variables tended to circumvent cognitively more demanding strategies and adopt others that helped them to overcome the constraints of formal reasoning, informat ion processing and disembedding ability.