Education research

Solving problems using experts’ decisions

By 2019-03-25T09:30:00

An image showing a decision flowchart, with a notebook to the leftand pens to the right

Source: Redrawn from DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00754 (© 2019 American Chemical Society)

New research demonstrates how decision trees help students apply their knowledge

Experts navigate their conditional knowledge like a map when they are solving problems. They often do this tacitly, making it challenging for students to emulate. However, in decision-based learning (DBL), conditional knowledge is attended to in an explicit, rather than implicit, learning activity. 

Thanks for using Education in Chemistry. You can view one Education in Chemistry article per month as a visitor. 

A photograph of a teacher standing in a white lab coat, speaking with a class of children in a laboratory, is superimposed on a colourful background. Text reads "Teach Chemistry means support for classroom and staff room".

Register for Teach Chemistry for free, unlimited access

Registration is open to all teachers and technicians at secondary schools, colleges and teacher training institutions in the UK and Ireland.

Get all this, plus much more:

  • unlimited access to resources, core practical videos and Education in Chemistry articles
  • teacher well-being toolkit, personal development resources and online assessments
  • applications for funding to support your lessons

Set up your Teach Chemistry account

Already a Teach Chemistry member? Sign in now.

Not eligible for Teach Chemistry? Sign up for a personal account instead, or you can also access all our resources with Royal Society of Chemistry membership.