Abstract
<p style="text-align: justify;">This article presents an international study that documented the conceptions of atomic models held by 1062 in-service high school science teachers from 58 countries. First, a previous study on pre-service science teachers’ conceptions of atomic models was successfully replicated as a pilot study with an international sample of in-service science teachers. Teachers’ conceptions were investigated by analysing their drawings of atomic models. Based on these results, a multiple-choice questionnaire was developed for the main study. This questionnaire collected data on teachers’ conceptions of atomic models, teachers’ knowledge about their students’ conceptions of atomic models, and teachers’ use of atomic models in the classroom. The results show that the teachers’ conceptions of atomic models are almost evenly distributed over six different atomic models. These models are the Bohr model, the Rutherford model, the probability model, the orbital model, the probability orbit model, and the wave model. The vast majority of teachers assume that their students’ conceptions are centred on two historical atomic models, namely the Bohr model and the Rutherford model. Furthermore, the majority of teachers prefer to use historical atomic models over modern atomic models in the classroom. However, the findings also highlight that the use of modern atomic models in the classroom is positively correlated with growing teaching experience, and that teachers’ conceptions of atomic models and their knowledge of students’ conceptions of atomic models significantly influence teachers’ classroom practice.</p>
Highlights
More than 2500 years ago, Leucippus and Democritus introduced the concept of atoms as indivisible units that make up ordinary matter
The following research questions guided the research process: (1) Which conceptions of atomic models held by in-service science teachers can be identified?
Only a few teachers drew the orbital model (11%) and a negligible number of teachers drew the probability orbit model (1%) or the wave model (1%). These findings are in line with the results reported by Kiray (2016), who saw the majority of participants either draw the Bohr model (52%) or the Rutherford model (13%)
Summary
More than 2500 years ago, Leucippus and Democritus introduced the concept of atoms as indivisible units that make up ordinary matter. Their original model of atoms remained virtually untouched until the end of the 19th century, when the discovery of the electron by Thomson (1897) spearheaded the establishment of the field of elementary particle physics. You will see, there is an enormous amount of information about the world, if just a little imagination and thinking are applied You will see, there is an enormous amount of information about the world, if just a little imagination and thinking are applied (Feynman et al, 2010, p. 2)
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