Self-Explanations Promotes Science Learning.

The use of the method of self-explanations to gain knowledge on students' conception of the chemical equilibrium concepts is reported in this paper. The analysis provides information on: (1) a general indication of students' understanding of materials related to chemical equilibrium, (2) a deep investigation of problem solving skills associated with the content, (3) a close look on inferences generated during studying the materials, and (4) a comparison of successful, intermediate, and unsuccessful students' performances which were resulted from the pre- and post-treatments. The findings obtained were based on verbal protocols of (n=12) high school students before, during, and after the experiment. Results indicated that high quality of self-explanations promote better understanding of the chemical concepts and principles. (Author)