Archived

This content is available here for research, reference, and/or recordkeeping.

Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2212-4365

Date Available

6-6-2026

Year of Publication

2026

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College

Arts and Sciences

Department/School/Program

Chemistry

Faculty

Stephen Testa

Faculty

Kenneth Graham

Abstract

Learning element symbol–name associations and the spatial organization of elements on the periodic table is a foundational step in learning chemistry, supporting later understanding of chemical formulas, equations, bonding, and stoichiometry. Although students often rely on memorization strategies to learn periodic table content, this task is challenging due to the large number of elements and the apparent ambiguity in matching some element symbols to their names.

This study explores students’ recall of element names when given element symbols as cues and their knowledge of element locations on the periodic table when given element names as cues. The study also examines how these two pieces vary across course groups. We examined seven student groups representing increasing levels of chemistry coursework using two complementary but distinct experimental approaches: a survey-based cued-recall task assessing percentage-correct symbol–name recall, and a separate eye-tracking experiment assessing how students visually searched for selected elements on the periodic table.

The overall results, considering all elements together, reveal that recall of element symbol–name associations and visual search efficiency improve with increasing chemistry exposure, but do not follow a strictly stepwise progression. Element-specific analyses reveal that cued recall of symbol–name associations developed unevenly across the periodic table, with some elements consolidating early, others strengthening gradually with increased exposure to chemistry, and a subset remaining weakly recalled even among upper-level undergraduate and graduate students. Visual search efficiency follows a similar pattern, shifting from exploratory search to shorter, more focused search paths in advanced course groups. Importantly, cued-recall and visual search efficiency were similar but not equivalent. In some cases, elements were located efficiently despite weak or absent recall, whereas in others,  elements recalled were associated with inefficient search behavior. These findings indicate that symbol–name knowledge and spatial knowledge of element locations constitute distinct but interacting memory components. At the upper levels of instruction, there seems to be an integration of these components, enabling students to use the periodic table more effectively as a structured representation rather than relying solely on element symbol-name associations.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2026.310

Archival?

Archival

Download

Share

COinS