An Eye Movement Study On Chemical Problem Solving In High School Students With High And Low Levels Of Cognitive Flexibility

According to the concept of the new curriculum standard,teaching based on chemical problem solving can help high school students improve their problem solving ability and promote the development of chemistry core literacy;at the same time,chemistry test questions are usually designed with flexibility in information giving,focusing on students’ understanding and integration of information,migration and application ability;cognitive flexibility is closely related to problem solving,which is a new perspective of chemical problem solving research."Ionic equilibrium in aqueous solutions" is an important part of the high school chemistry curriculum and plays an important role in the construction of students’ chemical knowledge system.Therefore,this study aims to investigate the cognitive differences and characteristics of high school students with different levels of cognitive flexibility in solving chemical problems from the perspective of cognitive flexibility,using "Ionic equilibrium in aqueous solution" as the knowledge carrier,and applying eye-tracking technology and oral report method.Based on the findings of the study,the study will help chemistry teachers understand the differences in students’ cognitive characteristics in solving ionic equilibrium problems in aqueous solutions and suggest teaching and learning suggestions for teachers and students from the perspective of cognitive flexibility in order to improve the effectiveness of teachers’ teaching and students’ chemistry problem solving ability.This study has seven parts:In the First part,Firstly,the background of the study is clarified;secondly,the literature review,significance of the study,and research design are presented in three major parts: studies related to cognitive flexibility,studies related to chemical problem solving,and studies related to chemical image problems and ionic equilibrium image problems in aqueous solutions.In the second part,the research basis of this study is clarified.One is the basis of the study,and the other is the definition of the concept.In the third part,the experimental materials are prepared and the experimental tools are prepared.Regarding the process of preparing the experimental materials for the eye movement experiment,firstly,the test questions were screened and adapted,then chemistry experts were asked to evaluate the test questions to ensure content validity,and then the test questions were administered to three classes in the senior class of a secondary level school in C city.Then,the valid data were collected and quality checked and optimized using the Winsteps software of the Rasch model.Finally,six experimental materials were selected that were of acceptable quality and met the experimental conditions,including three types of titration curve image problem,distribution fraction image questions,and constant curve image questions.Each type has both simple and complex difficulty.The experimental tools to be prepared include a cognitive load measurement tool,an eye-tracking device,and a WCST system.In the fourth part,the empirical study.Experiment 1,"An eye-movement study of high school students with high and low cognitive flexibility levels solving different types of ionic equilibrium problems in aqueous solutions",was a two-factor mixed experiment with 2(cognitive flexibility level)*3(chemistry test type);Experiment 2,"A two-factor mixed experiment of high and low cognitive flexibility levels solving different types of A two-factor mixed experiment design of 2(cognitive flexibility level)*2(difficulty of the chemistry test)was used for Experiment 2,"Oculomotor study of high school students with high and low cognitive flexibility levels solving ionic equilibrium image problems in aqueous solutions of different difficulty levels".At the same time,data processing tools and eye-movement indicators were selected,and the framework for analysis of the oral report was determined.In the fifth part,the experimental data were processed and analyzed.The experimental data were processed using SPSS.26.0 and Excel to analyze the differences in test scores,eye-movement indicators,and other characteristics of high school students with different cognitive flexibility in solving ionic equilibrium image problems in aqueous solutions and discuss the reasons based on theoretical analysis.The sixth section,the study summary includes three aspects: study conclusion,study insight and study outlook.First,the following conclusions were drawn from the analysis and discussion of the eye-movement indicators,PAAS scale scores,test scores,and oral reports of high school students with high and low levels of cognitive flexibility in solving ionic equilibrium image problems in aqueous solutions of different types and difficulty in the above sections.(1)There were significant differences in the effects of cognitive flexibility level on high school students’ test scores,total test time,total gaze time,pupil area standard deviation,and PAAS scale scores for solving different types of ionic equilibrium problems in aqueous solutions,as evidenced by significantly higher test scores,shorter total test time and total gaze time,smaller pupil area standard deviation,and lower PAAS scale scores for high cognitive flexibility level high school students;(2)There were significant differences in the total test time,total gaze time,number of area of interest gaze,standard deviation of pupil area,and PAAS scale scores for problem solving on different types of test questions,with the longest total test time and total gaze time,the highest number of times zone observed,the largest standard deviation of pupil area,and the highest PAAS scale scores for the distribution score image question,and relatively small differences between the titration curve image question and the constant curve image question;(3)The effect of cognitive flexibility level on the test scores,total test time,total gaze time,and pupil area standard deviation of high school students solving ionic equilibrium problems in aqueous solutions of different difficulty levels was significantly different,showing that high cognitive flexibility level high school students had significantly higher test scores,significantly shorter total test time and total gaze time,and smaller pupil area standard deviation;(4)The test scores,total test time,total gaze time,number of times zone observed,standard deviation of pupil area,and PAAS scale scores of problem solving were significantly different across different difficulty levels,showing that the test scores became lower,the total test time and total gaze time of problem solving gradually became longer,the number of times zone observed became higher,the standard deviation of pupil area became larger,and the PAAS scale scores became higher as the difficulty of the test questions increased;(5)High school students with high levels of cognitive flexibility solved the image problem of ionic equilibrium in aqueous solution faster,more efficiently,and with less difficulty and cognitive load than high school students with low cognitive flexibility.When extracting key information from the images,they used fewer times of information processing,but each time they processed the information more deeply and effectively,and understood the problem more deeply and thoroughly,i.e.,those with high cognitive flexibility understood the extraction of image information more easily,more efficiently and accurately,and had less cognitive load;(6)Regarding the type of test questions,the overall information processing speed was the slowest,solution efficiency was the lowest,and information processing difficulty and cognitive load was the greatest for solving the distribution fraction image questions.For the extraction of key information from their images,the most information processing,the most difficult information extraction,the least efficient,and the most cognitive resources were invested;(7)Regarding the difficulty of the test questions,as the difficulty of the test questions increased,the overall information processing speed of solving the test questions gradually became slower,the solution efficiency gradually became lower,and the information processing difficulty and cognitive load also gradually became greater.When extracting the key information from the images,the number of information processing becomes more,the information extraction becomes more difficult,less efficient,and more cognitive resources are invested.In the seventh part,based on the above conclusions and comprehensive analysis,relevant recommendations are made and research outlook is given.