An Investigation into the Relationship between Students’ Conceptions of the Particulate Nature of Matter and their Understanding of Chemical Bonding

Othman, Jazilah; Treagust, David F.; Chandrasegaran, A. L.

doi:10.1080/09500690701459897

Cited by 117 publications

(150 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Furthermore, the items evaluated students' conceptual understanding as they are required to provide explanations for selecting a particular response to each item. In a previous study, three of the authors had investigated possible associations between two different concepts, kinetic particle theory and chemical bonding concepts (unlike this study that involved only kinetic particle theory concepts), using ten two-tier multiple-choice items with five items relating to each concept (Othman, Treagust & Chandrasegaran, 2008). The authors realised the need for such a study because a sound understanding of chemical bonding requires familiarity with the particulate nature of matter.…”

Section: Purpose and Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Evaluating Students’ Understanding of Kinetic Particle Theory Concepts Relating to the States of Matter, Changes of State and Diffusion: A Cross-National Study

Treagust

Chandrasegaran

Crowley

et al. 2009

Int J of Sci and Math Educ

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This paper reports on the understanding of three key conceptual categories relating to the kinetic particle theory: (1) intermolecular spacing in solids, liquids and gases, (2) changes of state and intermolecular forces and (3) diffusion in liquids and gases, amongst 148 high school students from Brunei, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore using 11 multiple-choice items that required students to provide explanations for their selection of particular responses to the items. Students' responses to the items revealed limited understanding of the particle theory concepts, with nine alternative conceptions held by more than 10% of various samples of students. Also, 40.5-78.4% of all students indicated consistent understanding relating to the three conceptual categories based on their responses to the 11 items. However, when their explanations were taken into account, very few students displayed consistent understanding of the related concepts.

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Section: Purpose and Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Evaluating Students’ Understanding of Kinetic Particle Theory Concepts Relating to the States of Matter, Changes of State and Diffusion: A Cross-National Study

Treagust

Chandrasegaran

Crowley

et al. 2009

Int J of Sci and Math Educ

Self Cite

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“…Othman, Treagust, and Chandrasegaran 2008;DiGironimo 2011). We adhered to Cobern's (1994) view of the relationship between conceiving and understanding: '[U]nderstanding is the epistemological or thinking process by which one comes to conceptual comprehension' (Cobern 1994, 586).…”

Section: Theoretical Framework Methodology and Research Ethicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visible parts, invisible whole: Swedish technology student teachers’ conceptions about technological systems

Hällström

Klasander

2016

Int J Technol Des Educ

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Technological systems are included as a component of national technology curricula and standards for primary and secondary education as well as corresponding teacher education around the world. Little is known, however, of how pupils, students, and teachers conceive of technological systems. In this article we report on a study investigating Swedish technology student teachers' conceptions of technological systems. The following research question is posed: How do Swedish technology student teachers conceive of technological systems? Data was collected through in-depth qualitative surveys with 26 Swedish technology student teachers. The data was analysed using a hermeneutic method, aided by a theoretical synthesis of established system theories (system significants). The main results of the study are that the technology student teachers expressed diverse conceptions of technological systems, but that on average almost half of them provided answers that were considered as undefined. The parts of the systems that the students understood were mostly the visible parts, either components, devices, or products such as buttons, power lines, hydroelectric plants, or the interface with the software inside a mobile phone. However, the 'invisible' or abstract aspects of the technological systems, such as flows of information, energy or matter, or control operations were difficult to understand for the majority of the students. The flow of information was particularly challenging in this regard. The students could identify the input and often the output of the systems, that is, what systems or components do, but the processes that take place within the systems were elusive. Comparing between technological systems also proved difficult for many students. The role of humans was considered important but it was mostly humans as users not as actors on a more systemic level, for example, as system owners, innovators, or politicians. This study confirms previous research in that the students had a basic understanding of structure, input and output of a technological system. Thus, the adult students in this study did not seem to have better understanding of technological systems than school pupils and teachers in previous studies, although this is in line with previous investigations on the general system thinking capabilities of children and adults. The most important implication of this study is that students need to be trained in systems thinking, particularly regarding how components work and connect to each other, flows (especially of information), system dependency, and the human role in technological systems.

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“…Chemists use particle models to account for these abstract constructs. However, students find it difficult to visualize chemists' conceptual models (Abraham et al 1992;Ben-Zvi et al 1987;Ebenezer and Erickson 1996;Garnett and Treagust 1992;Harrison and Treagust 2002;Lijnse et al 1990;Novick and Nussbaum 1981;Othman et al 2008). Dynamic chemistry processes such as gas phase equilibrium, collisions of molecules, and electrochemistry are visually represented in textbooks by static diagrams (Burke et al 1998).…”

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confidence: 98%

Effects of jigsaw and animation techniques on students’ understanding of concepts and subjects in electrochemistry

Doymuş

Karaçöp

Şimşek

2010

Education Tech Research Dev

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An Investigation into the Relationship between Students’ Conceptions of the Particulate Nature of Matter and their Understanding of Chemical Bonding

Cited by 117 publications

References 26 publications

Evaluating Students’ Understanding of Kinetic Particle Theory Concepts Relating to the States of Matter, Changes of State and Diffusion: A Cross-National Study

Evaluating Students’ Understanding of Kinetic Particle Theory Concepts Relating to the States of Matter, Changes of State and Diffusion: A Cross-National Study

Visible parts, invisible whole: Swedish technology student teachers’ conceptions about technological systems

Effects of jigsaw and animation techniques on students’ understanding of concepts and subjects in electrochemistry

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