A National Survey of Students’ Conceptions and Their Sources of Chemistry in Taiwan: Examples of Chemical Equilibrium and Acids/Bases

Abstract

The aim of this study is to describe a two-tier diagnostic instrument to investigate the types, developmental trends, and sources of Taiwanese high school students’ alternative conceptions of chemical equilibrium and acids/bases. The development of the two-tier diagnostic instrument was guided by Treagust’s framework. Seven common sets of two-tier diagnostic items were designed to compare 6,989 junior and 2,934 senior high school students’ performance. There were six representative alternative conceptions identified. The results showed that, except for the concept of “phase transition between ice and water in an adiabatic condition,” senior high school students had better understanding than junior high students. In addition, high school students were more familiar with science concepts with proper nouns and more conscious of some macro phenomena. Nevertheless, both senior and junior high school students lacked understanding of the mechanism involved in chemical equilibrium and acids/bases ionization. Therefore, the correctness of these items was lower than others. With regard to the sources of these alternative conceptions, the results indicated the main difficulty was the transformation of macro, micro, and symbolic levels. Various alternative conceptions developed. The implications and further suggestions for curriculum designers, teachers, and researchers are discussed.