Chemical Language Skills Investigating the Deficit Keith Ver Beekl and Lany L o u t e d Calvin College, Grand Rapids. MI 49546 Chemistry is a complex discipline that requires multiple skills to master. In order to he successful, the chemistrv student must be competent in areas such as mathematics, problem-solving, conceptualization, handling theories, and chemical language, among others. Here at Calvin College we twicallvfind that about 20% of the students who register for f&hm& chemistry are unable to complete the co;rse. We were interested in beginning to investigate some of the potential sources of difficulty for these freshman students. Therefore, we designed a test t o evaluate the ability, or skill, of colleee chemistrv students in solvine three - our - ~ beeinnine -~ types of problems that may be important in determining their ahilitv to oerform well in chemistrv. These three tvDes of problems are mathematical problems, word problemi;nvolving common language, and word problems involving chemical language. The results of the students' performance in these three areas are r e ~ o r t e din this paper. The first and perhaps most fundament;^ ability required for success in chemistry is the student's mathematical skill. I t has been previously noted that most chemistry courses ate taught from a mathematical perspective (1).Students who lack the mathematical skills they need or falter in the application of these skills to a specific problem will have difficulties in virtually all topics in chemistry. Indeed, mathematics scores on the SAT have proven t o be a reasonable predictor of success in colleee eeneral chemistrv (2). A second skill
