Abstract
This paper reports an investigation of the status of procedural knowledge in chemistry amongst students entering into bridging programs at two South African universities. The students answered a questionnaire which investigated their perceived reasons for repeating readings and their ideas about handling data. Students also answered a question on laboratory apparatus which was used to assess their laboratory experience. The overall responses were analysed, as well as their relationship to laboratory experience and home language. The findings show that students overall tend to repeat in order to get a recurring reading. Very few students were able to use a line of best fit for a set of graphical data. There is some relationship between their responses and previous laboratory experiences, but little fundamental difference between the responses of the two main language groups. Some implications for tertiary education in chemistry are discussed.
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Rollnick, M., Dlamini, B., Lotz, S. et al. Views of South African Chemistry Students in University Bridging Programs on the Reliability of Experimental Data. Research in Science Education 31, 553–573 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013102108541
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013102108541