Pixel International Conferences

The development of problem-solving skills is one of the main goals of education. These skills are part of the components of critical thinking [1]. In ​​science and engineering, it is considered important to promote those skills that help students develop flexible cognitive strategies that prepare them to face and analyze unexpected situations in their professional life, to find meaningful solutions. Multiple theoretical frameworks have been developed about the problem-solving process from different perspectives, however, the impact of these on the pedagogical practice of universities is very small [2]. These are complex skills that include various cognitive components, such as knowledge domain and structure, metacognitive skills, motivational and attitudinal components, the belief system, etc. [3. 4]. It is very common that the teaching of these skills is limited to the use of techniques and skills to solve exercises rather than problems [3]. A problem must pose a new situation in which the student must identify the conditions to apply the related concepts and principles, plan, and make decisions. The health emergency caused changes in pedagogical practices; teachers had to design strategies that offered opportunities for more autonomous work to the students. With the return to the face-to-face modality, interest has arisen in evaluating the skills of students who previously worked in the virtual mode and who must now adapt to the face-to-face mode. The purpose of this study was to compare the achievements regarding the application of problem-solving skills at the third level, that is, those that imply the application of concepts and principles to new situations, in the context of a general chemistry course at a Peruvian university. Three groups were compared: students who took the course before the pandemic, virtual mode students, and students who took the course after the pandemic in face-to-face mode. The results showed that the first two groups had similar achievements, while the third group had a higher level of achievement that differed significantly from the previous two. It could be understood that the previous experience in the virtual mode fostered the development of self-learning skills that have had a positive effect on the problem-solving skills.

Keywords: Problem-solving skills, science education, remote teaching

References:

[1] Saiz, C. “Pensamiento Crítico y Eficacia”, Madrid, Ediciones Pirámide, 2020, 35 – 60.

[2] Oviedo, P. E. “La resolución de problemas. Una estrategia para aprender a aprender”, Revista de la Universidad de La Salle, 2006, (41), 31-39.

[3] Pozo, J. I., Pérez, M., Domínguez, J., Gómez, M. A., Postigo, Y. “La solución de problemas”, Madrid, Editorial Santillana, 1994.

[4] Sugrue, B. “A theory-based framework for assessing domain-specific problem-solving ability”, Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 1995, 14(3), 29-36