Teaching and learning chemical bonding: research-based evidence for misconceptions and conceptual difficulties experienced by students in upper secondary schools and the effect of an enriched text

Abstract

Chemical bonding is a fundamental but complex topic, which has traditionally been associated with learning difficulties, misunderstandings, and misconceptions. This paper reviews some previous studies, concerning students’ conceptual difficulties and reports the findings from a research study with Greek students, which set out to examine their knowledge and understanding of a number of key concepts related to bonding. Three student samples were studied; one consisted of tenth-grade students from three public schools, the second contained first-year chemistry and biology students at the beginning of their university courses, and the third involved tenth-grade students from a prestigious private school. The students generally exhibited limited knowledge and possessed certain misconceptions, with the private school and the university students demonstrating better knowledge than the public school students. A quasi-experimental research design was employed using students from the private school, with some students used as a control group and others as a treatment group. The control group was taught using the standard Greek chemistry textbook, while the treatment group used enriched teaching material. It was found that while the two groups demonstrated similar performance for many bonding concepts, the treatment group did show superior knowledge with respect to a number of issues, such as the role of electrostatic interactions, electronegativity, and bond polarity.

Multimedia Interaktif dengan Penstimulasian Intelegensi Visual Spasial pada submateri Ikatan Kovalen

“…Akibatnya dalam pembelajaran kimia peserta didik menjadi lebih sulit dalam membangun makna konsep kimia daripada konsep ilmu alam lainnya. Salah satu topik yang paling bermasalah dimana peserta didik umumnya menemukan kesulitan adalah ikatan kimia [1]. Padahal memahami subjek ikatan kimia sangat penting untuk pembelajaran lebih lanjut bagi peserta didik karena hal tersebut mendasari sebagian besar subjek lain pada pembelajaran kimia [1].…”

“…Salah satu topik yang paling bermasalah dimana peserta didik umumnya menemukan kesulitan adalah ikatan kimia [1]. Padahal memahami subjek ikatan kimia sangat penting untuk pembelajaran lebih lanjut bagi peserta didik karena hal tersebut mendasari sebagian besar subjek lain pada pembelajaran kimia [1]. Ikatan kimia merupakan salah satu konsep yang fundamental dalam kimia namun sangat kompleks karena terdiri dari beberapa jenis dan melibatkan sejumlah konsep lain seperti molekul, atom, proton, neutron, elektron, ion, kation, anion, tarikan muatan berlawanan dan tolakan muatan sejenis.…”

Teaching Structure with Molecular Visualization Tools. A Crash Course from Small Molecules to the HIV-1 Protease for Undergraduate Students

“…To move chemical education from the 2-D depiction of biomolecules to that of three dimensional perception is a demanding task, forcing the students to be able to recognize many symbols and established conventions, to interpret them and create powerful and lasting mental images in their minds. This is, from our experience, very confusing for the students and the teachers themselves (Mungui, 2018;Tsaparlis et al, 2018).…”

Cognitive Structures and Misconceptions with a Thematic Framework: The Case of Chemical Bonding

“…"Chemical Bonds" is a topic of chemistry that students have difficulty and have misconceptions (Tsaparlis, Pappa, & Byers, 2018). This is because, there are also many studies concerning the misconceptions about chemical bonds, which is the research object for the current study (Birk & Kurtz, 1999;Harrison & Treagust, 2000;Perez et al, 2017;Taber, 1994;1997;Tsaparlis, Pappa, & Byers, 2018). Besides, many studies with differing samples, data collection tools and purposes were conducted.…”

“…It was found that, those studies dealt with misconceptions about the matter and its' properties (Stavy, 1991a), atoms (Griffiths & Preston, 1992), the mole concept (Staver & Lumpe, 1995), chemical change (Geban & Bayır, 2000), chemical reactions (Chandrasegaran, Treagust, & Mocerino, 2007), chemical equilibrium and kinetics (Hackling & Garnett, 1985), gases (Lin, Cheng, & Lawrenz, 2000), solutions (Fensham, 1987) and, acids and bases (Hand, 1989). "Chemical Bonds" is a topic of chemistry that students have difficulty and have misconceptions (Tsaparlis, Pappa, & Byers, 2018). This is because, there are also many studies concerning the misconceptions about chemical bonds, which is the research object for the current study (Birk & Kurtz, 1999;Harrison & Treagust, 2000;Perez et al, 2017;Taber, 1994;1997;Tsaparlis, Pappa, & Byers, 2018).…”