Abstract
The purpose of this exploratory study is to investigate whether high school students have mastery of basic concepts which are indispensable for the understanding of stereochemistry, taking as fact that this subject is a complex conceptual field, that requires the domain of a vast set of concepts such as: molecular structure, constitution and connectivity of atoms in a molecule, absolute configuration, molecular geometry, chirality, molecular symmetry, among others. The learning problems associated with this conceptual field, that belongs to the field of Organic Chemistry, have been the object of study for decades, and the complexity in solving problems in three-dimensional space has been stressed as one of the main reasons that impair learning. When investigating the difficulties of the field of stereochemistry, it was inquired if beyond the visualization there would be other barriers for learning. This exploratory study used as a data collection instrument a diagnostic test with objective questions on basic concepts of stereochemistry, such as asymmetric carbon and chirality. The group was composed of 49 students of the second year of high school of a technical school in chemistry of Rio Grande do Sul - Brazil. The data analysis method was content analysis. Having as theoretical contribution Gerard Vergnaud's Theory of Conceptual Fields which postulates that the essence of cognitive development is the process of constructing concepts and that a conceptual field is formed by a network concepts, relations and operations of thought. In the analyzed students there is a gap in relation to the previous knowledge necessary for the understanding of this field, which precedes the problems related to the three-dimensional visualization capacity.
Highlights
LAS DIFERENTES ESTRATEGIAS PARA ENFRENTAR UN PROBLEMA RECURRENTEEn todo aprendizaje y especialmente en las ciencias, los individuos forman tres tipos de visualizaciones relacionadas con los niveles representacionales (GILBERT, 2010)
Los campos conceptuales se caracterizan por la presencia de conceptos, procedimientos, lenguajes y representaciones simbólicas; definidos como un conjunto informal y heterogéneo de problemas, situaciones, relaciones, estructuras, contenidos y operaciones del pensamiento, conectados unos a otros y que posiblemente están vinculados durante el proceso de adquisición de conocimiento (VERGNAUD, 1982)
The ability of understanding of the conceptual field of stereochemistry: the challenges that precede the problems of spatial visualization
Summary
En todo aprendizaje y especialmente en las ciencias, los individuos forman tres tipos de visualizaciones relacionadas con los niveles representacionales (GILBERT, 2010). Los campos conceptuales se caracterizan por la presencia de conceptos, procedimientos, lenguajes y representaciones simbólicas; definidos como un conjunto informal y heterogéneo de problemas, situaciones, relaciones, estructuras, contenidos y operaciones del pensamiento, conectados unos a otros y que posiblemente están vinculados durante el proceso de adquisición de conocimiento (VERGNAUD, 1982). El estudio del campo conceptual busca investigar las dificultades constatadas durante el proceso de conceptualización (MOREIRA, 2002) y existen básicamente tres justificaciones señaladas por Vergnaud (1983) para que se utilice la noción de campo conceptual en la comprensión del proceso de adquisición de conocimiento: a) Un concepto no se forma a partir de un único tipo de situación; b) Una situación no se analiza con un único concepto; c) La construcción y asimilación de todas las propiedades de un concepto se elabora a lo largo de años, a partir de analogías y equívocos, contraponiendo situaciones entre concepciones, procedimientos y significantes. La tabla 1 presenta una breve definición de cada uno de los conceptos de la tríada
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