Thinking and Learning in Nested Systems: The Individual Level

Publication Date

2-13-2024

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of Chemical Education

Volume

101

Issue

2

DOI

10.1021/acs.jchemed.3c00838

First Page

283

Last Page

294

Abstract

Analysis of results from research in cognitive science and discipline-based education in recent years suggests that student thinking and learning can be better understood and investigated by adopting a systemic perspective that recognizes the complex and dynamic interactions taking place within and across multiple interconnected and interdependent levels that shape student reasoning in academic settings, including individual and classroom levels. In this first article, we review and discuss the results from research that have helped us better understand the complex system dynamics that characterize thinking and learning at the individual student level. The second article in the set [Talanquer et al. J. Chem. Educ. 10.1021/acs.jchemed.3c00839 ] addresses issues at the classroom level. In both papers, we use our analysis to foreground major research insights gained in recent years and to summarize their implications for chemistry education.

Keywords

First-Year Undergraduate/General, Graduate Education/Research, High School/Introductory Chemistry, Learning Theories, Misconceptions/Discrepant Events, Problem Solving/Decision Making, Second-Year Undergraduate/General, Testing/Assessment, Upper-Division Undergraduate

Department

Chemistry

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