Students' understanding of the nature of matter and chemical reactions – a longitudinal study of conceptual restructuring

This manuscript describes the relationship between students' redox understandings and confidence as measured by the Redox Concept Inventory (ROXCI) which assesses symbolic and particulate redox concepts. The ROXCI was administered to two samples of 1st- and 2nd-semester general chemistry students after the students were taught and tested on redox concepts in their classrooms. Cluster analysis was used to identify groups of students with similar response patterns, based upon both total scores and average confidence on the ROXCI. Three clusters of students were identified in both samples: students with (1) moderate total scores and high confidence, (2) low total scores and low confidence, and (3) low total scores but high confidence. Clusters were further analyzed at an individual item level using average confidence, individual item difficulties, and the Confidence Discrimination Quotient (CDQ). Findings align with the Dunning–Kruger effect,i.e.in which students demonstrated a false sense of confidence regarding their own poor performance, and therefore, exemplify meta-ignorance. Descriptions of the clusters, example misconceptions held by the students regarding oxidation numbers and electron transfer, and the implications of this research are discussed.

Section: Students' Understandingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring meta-ignorance through the lens of confidence: examining students' redox misconceptions about oxidation numbers, charge, and electron transfer

Brandriet

Bretz

2014

“…Also, some students think that particles (atoms and molecules) can be seen under a microscope (Griffths and Preston, 1992;Lee et al, 1993;Nakhleh et al, 2005;Tezcan and Salmaz, 2005); and some substances do not have atoms (Tezcan and Salmaz, 2005). Øyehaug and Holt (2013) conducted a two-year longitudinal study to investigate four primary school students' understanding of the nature of matter and chemical reactions to find out their knowledge structures. Their findings indicated that although the students' understanding of matter and chemical reactions become somewhat more integrated and cohesive over time, at some points students expressed incomplete knowledge elements.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diagnostic assessment of student misconceptions about the particulate nature of matter from ontological perspective

Özalp

Kahveci

2015

Student conceptions related with matter and the particulate nature of matter (PNM), are vital for advanced understanding in chemistry, and have been a research area of significant attention. Lacking in the literature are studies addressing chemical misconceptions from an ontological point of view.The purpose of the current study was to develop a diagnostic instrument by utilizing ontological categories as theoretical lens and to evaluate student understanding on the topic PNM through assessment based on the relationship between ontology and misconceptions. Aligned with content in the middle school curricula, an assessment instrument of 25 distractor-driven, multiple-choice items, 15 of which were two-tier, was constructed. Subsequent to content validity work, to utilize student feedback for the improvement of the items and the validity of the inferences, we pilot tested our instrument with 178 students. Cross-sectional survey methodology was employed for the larger assessment work across Grades 6-11. Data were collected from a randomly selected sample of 696 students attending primary and secondary schools. The overall trend emerged to be improved student knowledge with increasing grade level. The students most often tended to attribute the properties of macroscopic matter to its microscopic particles and had most difficulty in explaining dissolution at the particle level, confirming previous national and international findings. An understanding of misconceptions from an ontology perspective may further assist educators to enhance a radical conceptual change. Distractor-driven, two-tier multiple-choice items are envisioned to aid stakeholders in curriculum development and 2 implementation by illuminating student conceptions and ways of thinking.

“…Traditionally, evaporation and boiling concepts are introduced with real-life examples in elementary science class. Students develop their conceptions of matter and natural phenomena based on their experiences; these ideas are increasingly refined, until they become valid scientific concepts (Oyehaug and Holt, 2013). However, when the concepts are difficult or abstract, proper teaching strategies are needed for student understanding (Ultay et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the role of a discrepant event in changing the conceptions of evaporation and boiling in elementary school students

Seounghey

2015

The purpose of this study was to explore how examples used in teaching may influence elementary school students' conceptions of evaporation and boiling. To this end, the examples traditionally used to explain evaporation and boiling in Korean 4th grade science textbooks were analyzed. The functions of these published examples were explanation (empirical recognition, identification, and evidence) and reinforcement (applications). However, few reinforcement functions (such as comparison and supposition) or clarification functions (such as extension and contrast) were employed. The evaporation and boiling conceptions of 41 students in the 4th grade, 55 students in the 5th grade, and 28 students in the 6th grade were surveyed. Many students thought of evaporation phenomena under heating conditions as boiling, and the same phenomena without an obvious source of heating as evaporation. This meant that the presence of heating affected the students' conceptions of evaporation and boiling. In this study, the students were presented with clarifying functional examples that were not included in the textbooks. After exposure to these examples, many students revised their misconceptions and adopted scientific conceptions. Previous studies have argued that students must be able to reason from a microscopic point of view to understand evaporation and boiling phenomena; however, the tested students were able to classify the two different phenomena after experiencing appropriate functional examples.