Instructional Misconceptions in Acid-Base Equilibria: An Analysis from a History and Philosophy of Science Perspective

Kousathana, Margarita; Demerouti, Margarita; Tsaparlis, Georgios

doi:10.1007/s11191-005-5719-9

Cited by 42 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…Apart from identifying the efficacy of the intervention program, the test enabled us to identify any misconceptions about acids and bases that are documented in the research literature (Kousathana, Demerouti & Tsaparlis, 2005). This test (see Appendix B in the ESM) was administered to both the experimental and comparison groups as a pretest before their study of the acids and bases topic to ascertain their prior knowledge and understanding of the related concepts.…”

Section: The Quantitative Dimension Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Acid–base Concepts: Evaluating the Efficacy of a Senior High School Student-Centred Instructional Program in Indonesia

Rahayu

Chandrasegaran

Treagust

et al. 2011

Int J of Sci and Math Educ

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This study was a mixed quantitative-qualitative research to evaluate the efficacy of a designed student-centred instructional (DSCI) program for teaching about acids and bases. The teaching innovation was designed based on constructivist, hands-on inquiry and context-based approaches and implemented in seven 45-min lessons with a class of 36 grade 11 students (experimental group) from a public senior high school in Indonesia. Another class of 38 students (comparison group) from the same school was instructed using a traditional teacher-centred approach. Data were obtained using a (1) 12-item achievement test on acids and bases that was administered to both groups as a pretest and a posttest, (2) self-evaluation 13-item questionnaire on students' perceptions of their competence and confidence in carrying out the inquiry activities that was administered to the experimental group and (3) 3-item open-ended questionnaire on students' perceptions of the instructional process using the DSCI that was administered to the experimental group. The results of the study showed that the teaching innovation was effective in improving students' understanding of acid-base concepts with significant difference between the two groups on the posttest mean scores. Moreover, the effectiveness of the innovation was supported by an increase in students' interest in learning science as indicated by their (1) positive perceptions of their engagement and competence in doing inquiry activities, (2) positive perceptions of the learning environment and (3) positive outcome expectations. The findings have implications for chemistry teaching in any institution with similar achieving students as well as for the professional development of teachers.KEY WORDS: constructivist approach, context-based approach, inquiry approach, interest, perceptions, student achievement, student-centred instruction, teaching effectiveness Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (

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Section: The Quantitative Dimension Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Acid–base Concepts: Evaluating the Efficacy of a Senior High School Student-Centred Instructional Program in Indonesia

Rahayu

Chandrasegaran

Treagust

et al. 2011

Int J of Sci and Math Educ

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“…Thus, it may come as a surprise that this topic is not given adequate prominence in the secondary school syllabus in South Africa. Students' difficulties in conceptualising acid-base equilibria have been documented, for example Kousathana et al, (2005), Drechsler and Van Driel (2008) Barke et al, (2009), andDuit (2009). Submicro diagrams are a very useful tool to probe students understanding of a particular concept .…”

Section: Acids and Basesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preparedness for tertiary chemistry: multiple applications of the Chemistry Competence Test for diagnostic and prediction purposes

Potgieter¹,

Davidowitz²

2011

Chem. Educ. Res. Pract.

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The development of the Chemistry Competence Test was prompted by the extensive curriculum changes in the South African school system after democracy was established in 1994. As chemists, we were concerned that there might be a lack of articulation between secondary and tertiary levels, since we anticipated that curriculum changes would have an impact on the knowledge base and skills development of prospective students. A diagnostic test developed initially to document proficiencies of first-time entering students to South African universities has proved to be a versatile instrument for multiple uses. Apart from monitoring levels of preparedness for tertiary chemistry during a period of systemic change, it has also been used to evaluate institutional placement policies, to identify specific conceptual problems and procedural deficiencies, and to measure conceptual gains over the course of the first year at university. In addition, its application for the prediction of risk of failure in first-year chemistry based on cognitive and non-cognitive variables was demonstrated. All these findings are valuable resources to inform lecturers who are concerned about minimizing the conceptual gap between secondary and tertiary chemistry.

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“…In the history of science, scientists have constantly offered definitions for acid-base concept (Drechsler & Schmidt, 2005;Kolb, 1978;Kousathana, Demerouti & Tsaparlis, 2005). From the mid-1600s on, a number of definitions were provided.…”

Section: Definition Of Acid-base Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to this view, the degree of acidity for a solution was determined by the level of hydrogen ion concentration. Brønsted, on the other hand, defined acids as particles that donate protons (H + ) and bases as the particles that accept protons (Kolb, 1978(Kolb, , 1979Kousathana et al, 2005). To this approach, the acid donates a proton, and this proton is obtained by the base.…”

Section: Definition Of Acid-base Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Impact of Contextual Factors on the Use of Students’ Conceptions

Sağlam

Karaaslan

Ayas

2011

Int J of Sci and Math Educ

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This study aimed to investigate the impacts of contextual factors on the use of students' conceptions. A total of 106 students received a questionnaire involving openended questions on acid-base and equilibrium concepts. Of these students, 16 students who provided complete and accurate responses to the questions participated in an interview. In order to observe the effects of different contexts, in the interview, the conception of acid-base was probed in an equilibrium system. As a result, the students' utterances indicated that (1) a specific problem situation could activate a different part(s) of a concept image, (2) an evoked concept image perfectly working in a particular context could become inadequate in a broader one, and (3) a misconception that could not be observed in a particular context might surface itself in a different one. The results further pointed to the fact that our current definitions and descriptions for acids and bases could be one of the sources of these misconceptions.

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Instructional Misconceptions in Acid-Base Equilibria: An Analysis from a History and Philosophy of Science Perspective

Cited by 42 publications

References 56 publications

Understanding Acid–base Concepts: Evaluating the Efficacy of a Senior High School Student-Centred Instructional Program in Indonesia

Understanding Acid–base Concepts: Evaluating the Efficacy of a Senior High School Student-Centred Instructional Program in Indonesia

Preparedness for tertiary chemistry: multiple applications of the Chemistry Competence Test for diagnostic and prediction purposes

The Impact of Contextual Factors on the Use of Students’ Conceptions

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