Of teachers and textbooks: lower secondary teachers' perceived importance and use of chemistry textbook components

Vojíř, Karel; Rusek, Martin

doi:10.1039/d2rp00083k

Cited by 14 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…As such, textbooks serve as a window for students to understand the epistemology of the nature, form, and practice of chemical research. Chemistry textbooks appear to be designed to benefit instructors . The image textbooks convey may be unconsciously culturally biased and may influence students’ perceptions of scientists and science in harmful and inaccurate ways. , …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Chemistry textbooks appear to be designed to benefit instructors. 63 The image textbooks convey may be unconsciously culturally biased and may influence students' perceptions of scientists and science in harmful and inaccurate ways. 64,65 From the standpoint of information literacy, chemistry textbooks generally do not cite primary or even secondary technical sources.…”

Section: Associated Threshold Conceptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluating Threshold Concepts for Information Literacy in an Undergraduate Analytical Chemistry Literature Research Project

Mabrouk

2024

J. Chem. Educ.

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This study probed student conceptions of the critical dimensions of a topical literature search to identify the threshold concepts limiting their informationseeking skills in chemistry and investigate the role of peer review and self-reflection in informing students' information-seeking skills through direct examination of student papers in a semester-long research project in a first course in analytical chemistry. Student perceptions of peer review were positive, but objectively, peer review was largely ineffective in improving the students' actual work. Many persistent problems were observed, including overreliance on a simplistic one-time use literature-searching strategy, ignoring older and newer works when researching a topic, confusing primary and secondary sources, failing to credit original research studies, failing to obtain copyright permission and to correctly credit copyrighted works, and an inability to reproduce ACS style formatting. We have linked these persistent behaviors with the students' conceptions of core concepts in information literacy. Identifying student conceptions opens the door to developing strategies and activities that promote a deeper and more comprehensive mastery of chemical information literacy skills by undergraduates.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Associated Threshold Conceptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating Threshold Concepts for Information Literacy in an Undergraduate Analytical Chemistry Literature Research Project

Mabrouk

2024

J. Chem. Educ.

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“…There may exist additional instances in which the undisputed history of teaching with chemistry symbols confine and disrupt conceptual understanding for other chemistry topics. Given teachers' reliance on chemistry textbooks (Gkitzia et al, 2011;Vojı ´r ˇand Rusek, 2022), researchers should explore not just whether the symbolic and particulate levels are included but the extent to which the former facilitates and/or disrupts understanding of chemical mechanism and causality. By identifying teachers and students' resistances, accommodations, and goals using MoP, we as a research field can more deeply evaluate the extent ongoing historicities of chemistry education actually align, in practice, with the principles of the NGSS and other reform efforts.…”

Section: For Researchersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the mangle of teaching oxidation–reduction with the VisChem approach: problematising symbolic traditions that undermine chemistry concept development

Yezierski

2023

Chem. Educ. Res. Pract.

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Specific to the topic of oxidation–reduction (redox), teachers are obligated by the discipline to prioritise symbolic traditions such as writing equations, documenting oxidation states, and describing changes (e.g., what undergoes oxidation/reduction). Although the chemistry education research community endorses connecting the vertices of Johnstone's triangle, how symbolic traditions undermine chemistry concept development, especially during lesson planning and teaching, is underexplored. To clarify this gap, we use the Mangle of Practice framework to unpack the clash between symbolic vs. particulate-focused instruction. We investigate teachers’ (n = 3) co-planning and micro-teaching of a redox learning design at the VisChem Institute-2 using a narrative approach and video research methods. Our results show that the traditions of redox instruction are problematically entrenched in chemistry symbols. Mnemonics, the single replacement reaction scheme, and the written net ionic equation all constrain instruction focused on chemical mechanism and causality in various ways. We assert that the nature of redox knowledge in terms of what is worth teaching and learning must first be re-evaluated for reform-based efforts to succeed. Implications and suggestions for chemistry teaching and research at both secondary and tertiary levels are discussed.

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“…However, teachers most often use the symbolic level of representation in chemistry teaching [21], which further confirms the influence of textbook design and content on teaching (cf. [24]), since symbolic representations dominate in textbooks [25][26][27][28]. The representation of reactions using sub-micro particles is thus neglected [29,30].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Between Symbols and Particles: Investigating the Complexity of Learning Chemical Equations

Hamerská,

Matěcha,

Tóthová

et al. 2024

Education Sciences

Self Cite

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This study explores the pedagogical challenges in teaching chemical equations, focusing on the ability to balance chemical equations and understanding related basic chemical concepts among chemistry teacher students. Based on Johnstone’s representation theory, we examined the efficacy of digital tools designed to enhance equation-balancing skills. The key findings of this study seem to be the disconnection between students’ procedural proficiency in balancing equations and their conceptual understanding of underlying chemical reactions. Surprising was the relatively low ability to balance chemical equations when compared to the expected level of upper-secondary school students. An analysis of the results showed that students could be distinguished into four different groups of solvers based on their total score and solving time: efficient, persistent, impulsive, and inefficient solvers. Utilizing an eye-tracking study, the findings reveal a predominant reliance on symbolic representations, with additional sub-microscopic representations provided by digital applets failing to significantly improve equation-balancing capabilities. This reliance potentially hinders students’ ability to conceptualize reactions at the particulate level, impacting overall chemistry comprehension. This study underscores the need for a pedagogical shift toward integrating multiple representations into chemical education to bridge the gap between procedural skills and deep conceptual understanding. By highlighting the limitations of current teaching approaches and the use of digital tools, this research contributes to improving chemical education strategies, fostering a more integrated and nuanced understanding of chemical principles among students.

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Of teachers and textbooks: lower secondary teachers' perceived importance and use of chemistry textbook components

Abstract: According to several research findings all over the world textbooks play an important role for teachers in the choice of educational goals, content as well as methods. However, the open...

Cited by 14 publications

References 60 publications

Evaluating Threshold Concepts for Information Literacy in an Undergraduate Analytical Chemistry Literature Research Project

Evaluating Threshold Concepts for Information Literacy in an Undergraduate Analytical Chemistry Literature Research Project

Investigating the mangle of teaching oxidation–reduction with the VisChem approach: problematising symbolic traditions that undermine chemistry concept development

Between Symbols and Particles: Investigating the Complexity of Learning Chemical Equations

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