COGNITIVE VARIABLES IN PROBLEM-SOLVING IN CHEMISTRY - A REVISITED STUDY

This is a revisited study on the role of cognitive variables, viz., co ncept relatedness, idea association, problem translating skill, prior problem solving experience, specific knowledge, and relevant but nonsp ecific knowledge in problem solving performance in chemistry. Two hund red seventy-nine preuniversity chemistry students from six Singapore j unior colleges were involved In this study. This article presents resu lts from the current Singaporean and the previous Australian studies o n the relationships between the cognitive variables and problem solvin g performance in three electrochemistry problems of different degrees of familiarity for comparisons. The two studies confirm that the afore mentioned cognitive variables, except concept relatedness, are signifi cant determining variables of problem solving performance. Idea associ ation and problem translating skill are the more important predictors for solving the familiar problem. The five cognitive variables, idea a ssociation, problem translating skill, prior problem solving experienc e, specific knowledge, and relevant but nonspecific knowledge, are all significant predictors of problem solving performance on solving the partially familiar problem. Among them, idea association is the most i nfluential predictor. Problem translating skill is a significant predi ctor for unfamiliar problems. (C) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, lnc.