Conceptions of high school students concerning the internal structure of metals and their electric conduction: structure and evolution

Abstract

Students' conceptions of the internal structure of solids have received very little attention from researchers. This is also true for the nature of electric currents from the atomic point of view. This paper explores common schemes used by Spanish 10th- to 12th-grade students in concrete and abstract contextual situations to explain the internal structure of metals, the causes of electrical conduction of metals, and the nature of this current. Students' conceptions change progressively as they are exposed to additional relevant information in higher grades; we nevertheless found great differences between what is taught by science and what is learned by the students. We must accept that students bring to their formal education in chemistry a system of physical, chemical, and other informal ideas. These ideas represent an obstacle to the learning of chemistry that mediates their interpretation of reality. The improvements derived from the abandonment of the obstacles can appear rather dubious for the students; because these obstacles are not isolated, they belong to a framework in which different elements support and reinforce one another. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sci Ed81:445-467, 1997.