Collective book on teaching and learning problem solving in chemistry. Editor: Georgios Tsaparlis

What is it about?

Problem solving is central to the teaching and learning of chemistry at secondary, tertiary and post-tertiary levels of education, opening to students and professional chemists alike a whole new world for analysing data, looking for patterns and making deductions. As an important higher-order thinking skill, problem solving also constitutes a major research field in science education. Relevant education research is an ongoing process, with recent developments occurring not only in the area of quantitative/computational problems, but also in qualitative problem solving. The following situations are considered, some general, others with a focus on specific areas of chemistry: quantitative problems, qualitative reasoning, metacognition and resource activation, deconstructing the problem-solving process, an overview of the working memory hypothesis, reasoning with the electron-pushing formalism, scaffolding organic synthesis skills, spectroscopy for structural characterization in organic chemistry, enzyme kinetics, problem solving in the academic chemistry laboratory, chemistry problem-solving in context, team-based/active learning, technology for molecular representations, IR spectra simulation, and computational quantum chemistry tools. The book concludes with methodological and epistemological issues in problem solving research and other perspectives in problem solving in chemistry. With a Foreword by George M. Bodner

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Why is it important?

Problem solving is a ubiquitous skill in the practice of chemistry, contributing to synthesis, spectroscopy, theory, analysis, and the characterization of compounds, and remains a major goal in chemistry education. The present volume is the result of contributions from many experts in the field of chemistry education, with a clear focus on what can be identified as problem solving research. The book has 468 pages and consists of eighteen (18) chapters that cover many aspects of problem solving in chemistry and are organized under the following themes: (I) General issues in problemsolving in chemistry education; (II) Problemsolving in organic chemistry and biochemistry; (III) Chemistry problem solving in specific contexts; (IV) New technologies in problem solving in chemistry, and (V) New perspectives for problem solving in chemistry education. To see the book contents, including summaries of all chapters, go to: https://doi.org/10.1039/9781839163586 The book is part of the Advances in Chemistry Education Series (Editor-in-Chief: Keith S. Taber)

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