Help students apply the right concepts in chemistry

By Adam Robbins2022-12-14T06:00:00

An example decision tree using mass and formula or concentration and volume to calculate moles

Source: Based on diagram supplied by the author. Tree illustrations © Shutterstock, paper background © Gett

How your students can use decision trees to improve exam success

Even when students can answer questions on a newly-taught topic successfully in class, they often can’t repeat that success when answering synoptic questions. The problem is they don’t pick the right techniques to solve problems, even though they can solve the problems when told explicitly which techniques to use. This is especially common when teaching on amount of substance and acids and bases in chemistry lessons. This article describes how students can use decision trees to find the right technique to answer a question independently.

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