Abstract
In every area of science there are some ideas that many students find difficult to grasp. A lack of understanding of key ideas can limit a student‟s ability to grasp and apply fundamental principles of their discipline. Previous work in this area, by Taber, has focused on this problem at school level. However, little work has been done to systematically investigate and analyse this phenomenon in undergraduate science programmes, beyond the anecdotal. A previous study involving students and staff from a range of scientific disciplines at our university identified that the mole (and its associated applications) was a difficult area for a wide range of students. The mole shows characteristics of being a „Threshold Concept‟ for students. Having identified the mole as a problem, the aim here was to explore why it is difficult and whether the conceptual issues can be systematically overcome, by using multiple perspectives. A sequence of questionnaires was used to survey over 100 people, involving school students aged 14-17, first-, second- and third-year university students, and secondary school teachers, in detail about the mole. We considered respondents‟ learning preferences and the type of activities in science lessons from which they felt they learned the most. Over 50% of respondents reported problems with the mole at some stage of their education. Further insights into how people conceptualise the mole were explored through the use of an educational research technique called „Hot Pen Writing‟. The outcomes of the research identified some of the reasons for student‟s lack of understanding of the mole concept including poor teaching in schools, difficulty in relating the concept to real-life situations and, not surprisingly, the fact that it involves maths. We consider what this suggests about how and when the mole should be taught within school education.
Highlights
Introduction – chemistry a challenging subject Chemistry as a subject divides people: some love it and others find it exceptionally difficult[1]
Programmes which use a context-based approach, (e.g. Salters A-levels), teaching science through everyday contexts can encourage engagement with the underlying principles and concepts; but this is only a partial solution- there is the need to address the deeper issues of how people learn chemical concepts
Previous research suggests learning difficulties in chemistry arise because of the challenges such as: Chemical concepts are presented in the classroom as the solutions to problems in which the learners have little interest in or have never experienced5 - conceptual material that was developed over decades or even centuries, invented to solve particular chemical issues for chemists! This is a real disadvantage of chemistry as many of the key concepts are not immediately highly significant in children‟s lives and its applications to real life tend to be less obvious than for other subjects
Summary
Introduction – chemistry a challenging subject Chemistry as a subject divides people: some love it and others find it exceptionally difficult[1]. ‟11-year olds arriving at secondary schools are keen to study science, and enthusiastic about the prospect of practical work in exciting laboratories. Some maintain this interest over the five years, but sadly the majority find science lessons boring and irrelevant compared with other subjects‟.4. Previous research suggests learning difficulties in chemistry arise because of the challenges such as: Chemical concepts are presented in the classroom as the solutions to problems in which the learners have little interest in or have never experienced5 - conceptual material that was developed over decades or even centuries, invented to solve particular chemical issues for chemists! Examples include: i) a focus on „pure substances‟ rather than everyday materials that students are familiar with such as fabrics, plastic, wood and air; ii) the basic explanatory framework of chemistry is in terms of atoms, electrons, molecules and ions (and how they interact and are arranged) which is very different to the everyday nature of matter as students experience it: as Kind[6] found:
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