Moral lessons from the Dalton atomic theory in chemistry value education course

Abstract

Presenting moral lessons in chemistry value education courses is expected to increase its relative contribution to the achievement of the national educational goals. This study aims to explore the moral lessons implicit in Dalton’s atomic theory. A qualitative approach has been used in this study. The study begins with a discussion of moral lessons on the topic of water anomalies and Lavoiser’s law as a model in expressing of moral lessons. Furthermore, each group is given the task to explore moral lessons for different chemistry topic, one of which is Dalton’s atomic theory. The expression of moral lesson on Dalton’s atomic theory is data resource. Moral lesson phrases from Dalton’s atomic theory are a source of data. Data analysis was carried out by describing, reducing and selecting, and finally synthesizing. The results show that the moral lesson obtained are: (1) all materials are composed of atoms, therefore we should not be proud of one another; (2) chemical reactions will not produce new atoms, but only their composition will change. This implies that what will be obtained in the future depends on what is done now. Exploration of moral lessons is expected to be carried out on other chemistry topics simultaneously while studying scientifically.