Make Thinking Explicit to Support Student Learning

Abstract

Problem solving is a key skill for success in general chemistry, and yet it remains a persistent challenge for instructors to teach and for students to learn. One of the primary causes of this difficulty is that the majority of problem solving is actually deciding how to solve the problem – a task that experts do automatically and that befuddles novice students. The author created a decision-based learning (DBL) model for the general chemistry students to solve problems related to heat and enthalpy. The process of creating the decision model was enlightening to the author as an instructor. It revealed expert blind spots and made the author aware of places in the curriculum where the instruction was unclear or incomplete. When the author implemented the model with the students, it resulted in significant learning gains for students who worked with the model outside of class to practice problem solving. Additionally, the students reported improved attitudes toward problem solving such as decreased anxiety and being able to see the big picture. Since this initial foray into DBL, the author has incorporated explicit instruction for conditional knowledge construction in other parts of the curriculum. As the author works to make thinking more explicit, students are better able to master challenging problem-solving skills in chemistry.

Citation

Sansom, R.L. (2021), "Make Thinking Explicit to Support Student Learning", Wentworth, N., Plummer, K.J. and Swan, R.H. (Ed.) Decision-Based Learning: An Innovative Pedagogy that Unpacks Expert Knowledge for the Novice Learner, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 31-43. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80043-202-420211004