What is wrong with the general chemistry course (original) (raw)
Chemistry Teaching at School - Problems and Solutions
2011
Recent years have seen the subsiding interest in sciences, including Chemistry, among young people. In general, the cause of this negative tendency has not been clearly defined. To a certain extent it may be due to the transition of our society toward a different political and social system. Another possible cause is the globalization and its impact on the educational process. Chemistry is regarded as tough science by young and adult learners. The teaching content of most school courses in chemistry add their finishing touch to the entire picture. Disproportionate informational input, too much theorization and systematic ignoring of laboratory experiments in chemistry have discouraged a great number of students who would otherwise direct their interest to this particular subject. Last but not least is the lack of whatever prospects for those who would venture in making a career in chemistry.
How to balance the chemistry curriculum between science and society
Chemistry curricula as a whole, or single lesson plans can use different approaches towards the learning of chemistry. Some are arranged parallel to academic chemistry; others provide meaningful contexts to motivate the learning of chemistry. Chemistry curriculum approaches can stem from the structure of the discipline, or history of chemistry, via everyday life contexts, industrial applications, or environmental issues, towards socio-scientific issues. This chapter suggests that every chemistry curriculum and even every single lesson plan uses one of these approaches. Each approach has a different justification, each one has different potential for promoting a certain set of objectives. One has to be aware, that by selecting one of the approaches the curriculum also gives the learner a certain emphasis towards chemistry. An overview about the different objectives and justifications is given to provide a range of possibilities for structuring chemistry curricula.
2018
This study investigates concerns regarding the perceived decline in number of young people opting to choose chemistry at secondary and post-secondary level of education in Malta. It analyses the trends in numbers of students studying science subjects in local secondary schools. Despite the decreasing number of science candidates at SEC level, there is a gradual progression of chemistry and biology students from ordinary-level to advanced-level courses. This means that there is a good chance of a SEC science student to confirm his interest in science by retaining the subject at post-secondary level. Literature suggests that students' attitudes to science are multidimensional and are influenced by a number of factors, mostly originating from their life experience. Studies show that whilst students held positive attitudes towards science as a discipline, there was a declining interest by students towards school science. The paper investigates the factors which determined the students' choice to study science and indicates the aspects that made science more appealing and others that hindered the students' motivation to study it at school. Students were found to be disenchanted from school science for a number of reasons such as its perceived difficulty, lack of direct relevance to their everyday life and the demanding examination syllabi, even though they enjoyed carrying out practical work in the school laboratory and were attracted towards the enterprise of science. Chemistry is the least studied science subject in many countries. The author therefore refers to theories in chemistry education to shed some light on possible underlying issues dissuading students from choosing to study chemistry and any other potential barriers to learning the subject at school. The study finally proposes a number of measures that could be taken by various educational stakeholders and policy makers to increase the uptake of science / chemistry in both secondary and post-secondary levels of education. These include increasing relevance of the subject, focussing on the language of communication, providing educational outreach programmes, revising the national science curricula to cater for students with different motivations and aptitudes, assisting in career guidance, investing in human resources and increasing international cooperation between science educators.
The Image of Chemistry and Curriculum Changes
Educación Química, 2012
Since the 1980’s, the influence of context-based curricula has been growing in curricula and has been taking place in advance of improving the image of chemistry. This article argues that chemical societies should focus on a better understanding of the negative image of chemistry, by supporting historical and philosophical research. Based on that, chemistry curricula should change.
Journal of Balitc Science Education, 2019
This research follows the previ-ous study examining the effect of chemistry education on students’ perception and understanding to the nature of chemistry (NoC) as well as their attitudes towards it as a school subject. Grade 9 students (N = 282) at the end of their compulsory schooling were given a set of open-ended questions focused on their understanding to NoC, perception of chemistry topics’ importance, topics the students found interesting and their evaluation of chemistry as a school subject. The answers were analysed using the open coding approach. It is possible to conclude most of the students do not have a clear idea about the nature of chemistry. Students assess chemistry as a school subject in the middle of the 5 point Likert scale. The results of this research offer the background for a more complex analysis of effects influencing students’s conception of chemistry and its subject matter.
Characteristics of Meaningful Chemistry Education
Secondary chemistry education contains problematic features, as a result of which the subject does not appeal much to students. We will elaborate upon these problems and also upon potential strategies to solve them. Our aim is to make insightful that the question 'how to design 'meaningful chemistry education' is in fact underestimated in the field of science education research. To answer such a question the quality of the design, that is, the extent to which it gives rise to meaningful chemistry education, should be object of research. This is rarely done. We will show that when this is made object of research, other questions are raised than the questions generally addressed in similar projects, and as a consequence a different research strategy is needed.
First-Year College Students' Knowledge in Chemistry: Is It Adequate
A total of 502 randomly selected incoming freshmen students were asked to answer Chemical Concepts Inventory questionnaire containing 22 multiple choice questions. These students graduated from a total of 150 private and public high schools. The sample is composed of 273 female and 229 male students. The Chemical Concepts Inventory developed by Mulford was meant to measure students' conceptual understanding of common topics taken in a general chemistry class as well as alternate conceptions on these topics. Results indicated that these sampled high school graduates were not able to fully master some basic concepts in chemistry. Female and male students have mean scores of 4.63 and 4.75 respectively. Further analysis using t test of independent samples revealed that the mean scores did not differ significantly when students are grouped according to gender and type of school. This may indicate that these students did not fully understand the concepts covered in the inventory during their high school chemistry.
A review is presented of the literature concerning the problems associated with teaching general chemistry and their possible solutions. These problems tend to be associated with three factors: the eclectic nature of the course content, the lack of logical organization of the chemistry topics presented in textbooks, as well as the students, their interests and level of preparedness. Different institutions deal differently with these challenges. One of the ways to address the problems in general chemistry is the non-traditional, 1-2-1 curricular organization of chemistry courses, which is especially appropriate for smaller, relatively less selective colleges that follow the liberal-arts model of education found in the United States. In this sequence, students take one semester of general chemistry, followed by two semesters of organic chemistry, and then the second semester of general. Such reorganization requires textual materials which are not currently available on the market. An example of such preliminary, textual materials and their pilot classroom evaluation is described. The topics are hierarchically ordered starting with what is the structure of matter (from atoms to bonding to molecules), moving on to how and then why matter gets transformed. The presentation does not assume any background chemistry knowledge, so that it could serve todays under-prepared yet able students who may follow the 1-2-1 sequence of chemistry courses.
Identifying students' misconceptions and learning difficulties and finding effective ways of addressing them has been one of the major concerns in chemistry education. However, the chemistry education community has paid little attention to determining discipline-specific aspects of chemistry that can lead to learning difficulties and misconceptions. In this article, it is argued that emergence plays a critical role in the epistemology and the ontology of chemistry and hence it should be taken into account for understanding learning difficulties and finding ways of addressing them in chemistry. It is particularly argued that one of the fundamental sources of learning difficulties and chemical misconceptions is learners' failure to understand the emergent nature of chemical entities, their properties, and interactions. In this article, an interpretive analysis framework is suggested for identifying specific learning demands and the sources of learners' misconceptions about the emergent chemical properties and phenomena. Findings from previous research on learners' misconceptions regarding emergent chemical properties are reanalyzed and interpreted through this framework. Inadequacies of typical teaching practices and their consequences are discussed from an emergentist perspective. Finally, implications of the emergentist perspective for more meaningful chemical education are discussed.
Responding to Students’ Learning Preferences in Chemistry
Journal of Science Teacher Education, 2014
Responding to Students' Learning Preferences in Chemistry 3 rehybridization emphasizes [the] need to situate chemical concepts, symbolic representations, and chemical substances and processes in the authentic contexts of the human beings who create substances, the cultures that use them, and the students who try to understand them". Mahaffy goes on to elaborate on what this 'human element' might include within chemistry education. He describes the need to develop public understanding and trust through the exploration of contemporary applications of chemistry and the social and environmental issues associated with chemical production and use. Further, he emphasizes the need for students to study the people and stories behind the history and origination of chemistry ideas across the breadth of the world's cultures.
Erzincan University Journal of Education Faculty, 2016
For an effective chemistry education, it is crucial to determine views of the chemistry teachers. This study aims to investigate the views of chemistry teachers working at science high schools, about the revised chemistry curriculum. Forty-two chemistry teachers participated in the study designed as survey study where the data were collected by a questionnaire with open-ended questions, Chemistry Curriculum Evaluation Questionnaire (CCEQ). The data were analyzed based on the themes existed in CCEQ. The majority of the chemistry teachers reported that both teachers and the students also have an active role in the current curriculum, but their views were fragmented about the learning activities and evaluation parts in the curriculum. The teachers also emphasized the differentiation of chemistry curricula according to the school types.