Procedural Problem-Solving Approaches Employed by Students in Learning Extensive and Intensive Quantities of Change of State

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the procedural problem-solving approaches students employ when solving computational problems that involve extensive and intensive quantities of change of state. A sample of 240 Form 3 science students randomly selected from five senior high schools in the Cape Coast Metropolis participated in this study. An achievement test on change of state of matter comprising of five items was used for data collection. The results showed, among other things, that students employ the structured procedural approach when solving change of state computational questions that involve extensive quantities instead of the scientific approach. The study also found that no clear procedural approach was employed by majority of the students in solving change of state computational questions that involved intensive quantities. The study further revealed that among the five problem-solving approaches, the scientific approach was the most effective in revealing students’ correct conceptions of intensive quantities. These findings suggest that for students to be good problem solvers, teachers must teach concepts using the scientific approach to effectively compel learners to analyse problems based on their conceptual understanding before they proceed with computations.