Secondary School Students’ Thinking Schemes in Solving Chemical Stoichiometry Problems

This study aims to examine students’ mastery level, explore thinking patterns, and develop a scheme for problem-solving thinking in chemical stoichiometry, including conceptual, procedural, and conditional knowledge. The instrument used to assess students’ mastery level in solving chemical stoichiometry problems is the Chemical Stoichiometry Mastery Level Test (CSMLT). Students’ thinking patterns and schemes are determined through oral interviews, retrospective interviews, and the CSMLT. All instruments have been validated by five experts in the field. A total of 172 Form Four students from four prominent schools in Sabah answered the CSMLT, and only 15 students were selected for interviews using purposive sampling. Verbal interviews, retrospective interviews, and CSMLT documents were then analyzed using content analysis and triangulation techniques for validity. The research findings indicate that students fail to solve chemical stoichiometry problems that involve conceptual knowledge. A majority of students grasp only the macroscopic level and possess various alternative frameworks at all three levels of chemical knowledge. Also, students struggled to master procedural knowledge due to their inability to connect conceptual knowledge and procedural knowledge in specific knowledge domains. Furthermore, the study found that students fail to master conditional knowledge due to their weakness in connecting specific knowledge domains and general knowledge domains, thus creating an alternative framework, namely the “Chemical Stoichiometry Problem-Solving Framework”. This framework implies curriculum improvements focusing on empowering problem-solving skills in chemistry education. Among the priorities are teaching and learning processes in chemical stoichiometry topics that emphasize the formation of scientifically literate communities with problem-solving abilities.