Learning and presenting chemical concepts at the triple level of chemical concepts provides opportunities for the development of misconceptions. The research aimed to identify potential misconceptions of chemical concepts: the states of matter, a pure substance, a mixture, an element, a compound, a physical change, and a chemical reaction at the sub-micro level when solving problems incorporating sub-microrepresentations. A total of 188 14-year old students, attending six different primary schools, participated in the research. A chemistry achievement test comprising five problems at the macroscopic, sub-micro, and symbolic levels was used to obtain data about students' misconceptions of selected concepts. The results showed that the majority of students had formed inadequate mental models (misconceptions) for the chemical concept of the liquid state of water (66.5%). The lowest level of misconceptions is related with the gaseous state of matter, because almost all students (98.5%) solved the problem correctly. It can be concluded that the results of the research are significant for chemistry teachers because they can: select and apply adequate educational strategies to avoid the deepening or development of misconceptions and make the courses practically oriented by analysing students’ misconceptions and develop teaching strategies to minimise these problems in the chemistry classroom. Keywords: chemical concepts, primary school, misconceptions, sub-micro level, symbolic level.
This paper aims to identify differences in the justification of the selection of 3D dynamic submicroscopic-representation (SMR) of the solid and liquid states of water, as well as the freezing of water presented in selected authentic tasks. According to students' achievements in solving these tasks at different levels of education, their explanations were identified. To explain in greater detail how students attempted to solve the authentic tasks, an eye-tracking method was used to identify the differences in the total fixation durations on specific areas of interest at the specific SMRs between successful and unsuccessful students in three age groups. A total of 79 students participated in this research. The data were collected with a structured interview conducted with students when solving three authentic tasks displayed on the computer screen. The tasks comprise text (as problem and questions), macro-images (photos of the phenomena) and SMRs of the phenomena. The eye-tracker was also used to measure the students' gaze fixations at the particular area of interest. The results show that successful students' justifications for a correct SMR include macroscopic and sub-microscopic representations of the chosen concepts. Along different stages of education, the selection success increases and sufficient justifications comprise the sub-microscopic level. It could be concluded that there are mostly no significant differences between successful and unsuccessful students within the same age group in the total fixation duration at the correct SMR. Further studies are needed to investigate the information-processing strategies between high and low achievers in solving various authentic tasks comprising SMRs and those that integrate all three levels of the representation of chemical concepts.
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