Understanding Final-Year Undergraduates’ Perception and Reaction to Unexpected Results during Chemistry Practical Sessions
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Nathaniel A. Omilani [1] ; Joshua T. Oribukola [1]
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[1] University of Ibadan
University of Ibadan
Nigeria
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- Localización: Journal of chemical education, ISSN 0021-9584, Vol. 103, Nº 1, 2026
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
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Resumen
This study investigates how final-year Nigerian undergraduate chemistry students perceive and respond to unexpected results during laboratory experiments. Qualitative descriptive survey research method was employed in this study, and data was collected through observation, focus group discussions, and unstructured oral interviews. 156 students taking final year chemistry practical were sampled, and a total of 48 students across 12 groups were observed to have experienced experiments that went wrong, out of which 14 were engaged in focus group discussions and 6 presented for individual interviews, with at least a member of each group represented. The data were analyzed thematically to identify patterns in students’ perceptions and responses. The findings show that students primarily attributed unexpected results to procedural mistakes, faulty equipment, or impure materials and responded by retracing steps, repeating experiments, discarding nonconforming results, or comparing outcomes with peers. While some students attempted to bypass or modify steps in the prescribed procedures, such actions reflected corrective rather than investigative mind sets. These findings highlight the influence of structured, cookbook-style laboratory tasks, which position unexpected outcomes as errors to be corrected rather than phenomena to be explored. The study concludes that promoting inquiry-based laboratory experiences and reflective assessment practices is important for helping students develop critical cognitive understandings of unexpected results. It further recommends redesigning practical tasks to integrate guided inquiry and process-focused inquiry to help students explore and explain anomalies rather than eliminate them.
