Students who score within the bottom quartile on cognitive measures of math aptitude have been identified as at-risk for low performance in chemistry courses, with less attention as to why such differential performance persists. At-risk students struggle most differentially on assessment items related to the mole concept and stoichiometry. An exploration as to the nature of the differential performance observed became of great interest as the assessment of these topics rarely progresses beyond multiplication or division, and at-risk students who achieved proficiency with the mole concept and stoichiometry had no noticeable gaps in academic chemistry performance when compared to students scoring in the top three quartiles of math aptitude. Thus, students in first-semester general chemistry were surveyed to describe their solution processes toward assessment items involving the mole concept and stoichiometry. Three hundred and forty-eight students responded to all survey prompts with 101 identified as at-risk. Findings suggest that while all students were observed to struggle in the conceptualization of the algorithms by which they execute solution processes, not-at-risk chemistry students were more likely to achieve correct answers via chemically implausible solution pathways. Rather than suggest the removal of assessment practices involving algorithmic, multiple-choice assessment on these topics, the implications include practical suggestions and opportunities for further research toward improving the equitability of measures used to assess proficiency with stoichiometry.

中文翻译：

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普通化学中数学素养低的学生的差异表现的解释基础

在数学能力的认知测量中得分在最低四分位数之内的学生被认为是化学课程成绩低下的风险，而对为什么的关注较少这样的差异性能仍然存在。高危学生在与痣的概念和化学计量有关的评估项目上的差异最大。由于对这些主题的评估很少会超出乘法或除法运算，而且对摩尔概念和化学计量学水平熟练的高风险学生在学术化学表现方面没有明显的差距，因此对于探索观察到的差异表现的性质的探索成为了极大的兴趣。与学生在数学才能的前四分之三中得分相比。因此，对第一学期普通化学专业的学生进行了调查，以描述他们对涉及摩尔概念和化学计量的评估项目的解决过程。348名学生回答了所有调查提示，其中101名被确定为有风险。通过化学上难以置信的溶液途径。与其建议取消涉及这些主题的算法选择选择评估的评估实践，不如提供实用建议和机会，以进行进一步研究以提高用于评估化学计量学水平的措施的公平性。