Conceptual understanding involves being able to represent and translate chemical problems using three forms of representation—macroscopic, particulate, and symbolic. In addition to research on chemical problem solving, a great deal of work on student misconceptions involving chemical phenomena has been conducted. Both the representational formats, and the work on student misconceptions, served as framework for a team of chemical educators to develop a general chemistry standardized exam focused on conceptual understanding that is now available from the ACS Examinations Institute. Several of the item formats differ from the conventional single answer multiple choice question currently used on such tests. That article will report the background of the test, the structure of the test, and on-going work of the group.
Bowen et al. (Sun,) studied this question.