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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 2007  > March  >
Research: Science and Education
Constructing a Graphic Organizer in the Classroom: Introductory Students' Perception of Achievement Using a Decision Map To Solve Aqueous Acid–Base Equilibria Problems
Stephen DeMeo
Department of Curriculum and Teaching, School of Education, Hunter College of CUNY, New York, NY 10021
Cover
March 2007
Vol. 84 No. 3
p. 540
Abstract
Common examples of graphic organizers include flow diagrams, concept maps, and decision trees. The author has created a novel type of graphic organizer called a decision map. A decision map is a directional heuristic that helps learners solve problems within a generic framework. It incorporates questions that the user must answer and contains conceptual as well as methodological knowledge. The decision map that is presented was created to solve pH problems of varying difficulty that introductory college chemistry students encounter when studying acid–base equilibria. The acid–base decision map was created during an in-class workshop with approximately sixty students enrolled in the second semester of a two-semester introductory chemistry course for science and premedical majors. Questionnaires were used to measure students’ perceptions of achievement in regard to problem solving, understanding of concepts, and organization of information as it related to the decision map. Open-ended comments were also solicited to improve the design of the map. After the workshop, the majority of student responses to all of the questions indicated that the decision map helped them solve problems, understand concepts, and organize the material. Furthermore, 78% of the students indicated that they would use the map “sometimes” to “every time” when solving similar acid–base problems. Subsequent students also responded positively to the map when the author replicated the study two additional times and later when another instructor in the same chemistry department performed the workshop and constructed the map.
Supplement
Additional data tables, as well as full-page versions of all four decision maps discussed in this paper, are available.
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Contents
  JCE2007p0540W.pdf
 
More Information
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Citation
DeMeo, Stephen. J. Chem. Educ. 2007 84 540.
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Keywords
Acids / Bases; Chemical Education Research; Collaborative / Cooperative Learning; Equilibrium; First-Year Undergraduate / General; Problem Solving / Decision Making
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History
Created:
Last Updated:
2/1/2007
2/16/2007
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