Intellectual skills needed for the effective learning and application of chemical knowledge

Many students' difficulties in learning and applying chemical knowledge are associated with their being incompetent in a few widely applicable intellectual skills and strategies. This paper discusses the results of a study that was done to test first year university students' competence in some types of intellectual skills that are important in chemistry. The skills tested include language skills, mathematical skills, graphical skills, three-dimensional visualization skills, information processing skills and reasoning skills. The study showed that the competence of most students in intellectual skills is very poor. This lack of competence could be expected to lead to negative attitudes and a lack of self-confidence that would seriously handicap their learning, and may also be an important reason for the observed high failure rate of students in science courses. The study also showed a significant correlation between success in first year university courses and competence in intellectual skills and strategies. It is strongly suggested that much greater emphasis should be placed in our courses on the development of students' intellectual skills and strategies. Such training should be integrated with the teaching of subject content.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Drummond,Helen P., Selvaratnam,Mailoo
Format: Digital revista
Language:English
Published: The South African Chemical Institute 2009
Online Access:http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0379-43502009000100029
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
id oai:scielo:S0379-43502009000100029
record_format ojs
spelling oai:scielo:S0379-435020090001000292015-07-16Intellectual skills needed for the effective learning and application of chemical knowledgeDrummond,Helen P.Selvaratnam,Mailoo Intellectual skills learning and application of chemical knowledge problem solving Many students' difficulties in learning and applying chemical knowledge are associated with their being incompetent in a few widely applicable intellectual skills and strategies. This paper discusses the results of a study that was done to test first year university students' competence in some types of intellectual skills that are important in chemistry. The skills tested include language skills, mathematical skills, graphical skills, three-dimensional visualization skills, information processing skills and reasoning skills. The study showed that the competence of most students in intellectual skills is very poor. This lack of competence could be expected to lead to negative attitudes and a lack of self-confidence that would seriously handicap their learning, and may also be an important reason for the observed high failure rate of students in science courses. The study also showed a significant correlation between success in first year university courses and competence in intellectual skills and strategies. It is strongly suggested that much greater emphasis should be placed in our courses on the development of students' intellectual skills and strategies. Such training should be integrated with the teaching of subject content.The South African Chemical InstituteSouth African Journal of Chemistry v.62 20092009-01-01journal articletext/htmlhttp://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0379-43502009000100029en
institution SCIELO
collection OJS
country Sudáfrica
countrycode ZA
component Revista
access En linea
databasecode rev-scielo-za
tag revista
region África del Sur
libraryname SciELO
language English
format Digital
author Drummond,Helen P.
Selvaratnam,Mailoo
spellingShingle Drummond,Helen P.
Selvaratnam,Mailoo
Intellectual skills needed for the effective learning and application of chemical knowledge
author_facet Drummond,Helen P.
Selvaratnam,Mailoo
author_sort Drummond,Helen P.
title Intellectual skills needed for the effective learning and application of chemical knowledge
title_short Intellectual skills needed for the effective learning and application of chemical knowledge
title_full Intellectual skills needed for the effective learning and application of chemical knowledge
title_fullStr Intellectual skills needed for the effective learning and application of chemical knowledge
title_full_unstemmed Intellectual skills needed for the effective learning and application of chemical knowledge
title_sort intellectual skills needed for the effective learning and application of chemical knowledge
description Many students' difficulties in learning and applying chemical knowledge are associated with their being incompetent in a few widely applicable intellectual skills and strategies. This paper discusses the results of a study that was done to test first year university students' competence in some types of intellectual skills that are important in chemistry. The skills tested include language skills, mathematical skills, graphical skills, three-dimensional visualization skills, information processing skills and reasoning skills. The study showed that the competence of most students in intellectual skills is very poor. This lack of competence could be expected to lead to negative attitudes and a lack of self-confidence that would seriously handicap their learning, and may also be an important reason for the observed high failure rate of students in science courses. The study also showed a significant correlation between success in first year university courses and competence in intellectual skills and strategies. It is strongly suggested that much greater emphasis should be placed in our courses on the development of students' intellectual skills and strategies. Such training should be integrated with the teaching of subject content.
publisher The South African Chemical Institute
publishDate 2009
url http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0379-43502009000100029
work_keys_str_mv AT drummondhelenp intellectualskillsneededfortheeffectivelearningandapplicationofchemicalknowledge
AT selvaratnammailoo intellectualskillsneededfortheeffectivelearningandapplicationofchemicalknowledge
_version_ 1756006612903919616