An Investigation of the Factors Influencing Student Performance in Physical Chemistry

Abstract

A variety of diagnostics were administered to students enrolled in a first-semester physical chemistry course throughout the course of the semester: the Group Assessment of Logical Thinking (GALT), a math skills assessment, an inventory of student perceptions of the course, an inventory of student perceptions of math, and a survey of the students' past history in chemistry and math courses. The responses from these diagnostics were then correlated to students' achievement in the class. A correlation analysis revealed significant relationships between students' grades and their performance on the GALT as well as on several of the math problem solving questions from the math skills assessment (p < .05). It appears that achievement in a physical chemistry course designed for chemistry fields is significantly related to students' logical thinking skills, rather than to their previous chemistry knowledge, math exposure, or attitudes toward the course.