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.

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In a preceding publication (Tsaparlis, G., Pappa, E. T., & Byers, B. (2018). 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. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 19(4), 1253–1269), we reviewed previous studies on students’ misconceptions and conceptual difficulties with the topic of chemical bonding and tested the knowledge of tenth-grade Greek students on certain key aspects of bonding. In addition, we presented an enriched teaching text on this topic for the tenth grade and examined its effectiveness with regard to the same aspects of bonding. In the present study, we review earlier studies, which made proposals concerning the teaching of this topic, and provide some proposals of our own, based on the findings of our previous study. We recommend that a spiral curriculum spanning all three upper-secondary grades should be adopted. A learning progressions approach, employing lower and upper anchors of relevant scientific knowledge is considered, and a proposed list of potential core concepts, lever concepts, and stepping-stones are presented. Finally, the pros and cons of a modern qualitative quantum mechanical approach to bonding are considered.

Mit dem derzeitigen Wandel der Hochschullandschaft Europas sind neben Studienstrukturen, Curricula und Zielen auch die Unterrichtsmethoden der Hochschullehre neu zu hinterfragen. In diesem Rahmen war es Ziel des Projekts „Innovative Methods in University Chemistry Education“ des European Chemistry Thematic Network (ECTN‐4), mögliche Felder für methodische Innovationen in der Hochschullehre Chemie zu analysieren und Beispiele guter Praxis zu identifizieren. Es wird eine Legitimation für die Notwendigkeit von Veränderungen gegeben, aus der zehn mögliche Handlungsfelder abgeleitet werden.

Static visual representations (VRs) of chemical structures are necessary for an understanding of chemical bonding, a topic which continues to lead to learning difficulties and misconceptions for many students. The efficacy and problems associated with the use of VRs of chemical structures and chemical bonding in the form of electrostatic potential maps resulting from accurate quantum mechanical calculations are the subject of this study, which involved a sample of first year, second semester students, studying the elective course “Science Education” (N = 31). Students distinguished between nonpolar and polar covalent bonding, however, they encountered difficulties with concepts related to ionic bonding. Most students did not employ multistructural thinking (in the sense of the SOLO taxonomy), when providing explanations about the variation of bond polarity. Persistence of a covalent-ionic bond dichotomy was apparent, while for some, ions can be involved in both ionic and covalent bonding. Many students preferred to use their established high school knowledge. On a positive note, many students were clearly affected by the information provided by the colored VRs. Finally, the minimal experience of our students with these VRs leads us to believe that a more systematic and extensive coverage would be likely to produce improved outcomes.