Assessing 15-year-olds’ Understanding of Chemical Concepts in the Context of the Lithosphere and Pedosphere

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the understanding of environmental chemistry content related to lithosphere and pedosphere, such as soil and soil types, soil horizons, rock and rock types, weathering, minerals, coal, and soil erosion, and to investigate misconceptions among 9th grade lower secondary school students. 503 students (254 male and 249 female) from 14 different primary schools and 8 different regions of Slovenia participated in this study. A three-tier achievement test (with 10 three-tier tasks to identify misconceptions) was used to collect the data. The results how that the Slovenian students’ knowledge of the lithosphere and pedosphere is adequate. On average, students achieved 55.6% of all possible points. The lowest level of knowledge was found for the topic of soil formation. The number of misconceptions on this topic is low and does not exceed 30% for any task. The highest number of misconceptions was found for the topic of soil formation and pollution.