According to Glover et al. (1990), the problems most often encountered in our lives are ill-defined, multifaceted
and open-ended. For such problems, there is normally more than one final solution and various possible methods of
problem solving are involved. From a chemistry education point of view, the open-ended type of question is very
useful for assessing whether the students have clearly grasped a certain chemical concept (SQA, 2010). This type of
question will normally require the students to draw on their understanding of the related key principals in solving the
chemistry problem. The “open-ended” nature of the questions indicates that there is no unique correct answer. The
advantage of using open-ended questions is that they encourage and reward creativity and analytical thinking among
students. According to SQA (2010), the role of open-ended questions is to assess the key underlying concepts of
chemistry, not to promote the recall of certain facts. This means that the students will not be hindered fromanswering the questions if they fail to recall a piece of information because there are always several alternativeroutes by which to reach the final solution.