Academic performance in solving chemistry problems related to student working memory capacity

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Abstract
Johnstone and El‐Banna (1986) found that students’ performance in solving chemical problems was highly correlated with a psychological parameter, viz., the capacity of their working memory (X). According to Johnstone's hypothesis, performance would drop in a kind of all‐or‐none fashion when the information‐processing demand (Z) of a problem exceeds X. The objective of this study was to test this hypothesis. The results give no support for a sharp fall in performance when Z exceeds X. In the preliminary study, it was found that performance decreases similarly for all values of X in a smooth way as Z increases. In a second phase of research, no sudden breaks in performance could be found when comparing groups of students with increasing X. An average correlation of 0‐3 between X and performance could reflect the relative importance of the working memory amongst other psychological factors in solving chemical problems. 0950‐0693/90 $3.00 © 1990 Taylor & Francis Ltd.