The Study of Grade 10 Students’ Conceptual Understanding of Chemical Reactions and Biomolecules (original) (raw)

The purpose of this research was to study grade 10 students' conceptual understanding of chemical reactions and biomolecules. The target group was 33 10 thgrade students of classroom 14, Phadungnaree School, Thailand, in the first semester of the academic year 2016. The instruments for the conceptual understanding measurement were multiple choice test with rationale explanation and semi-structured interview. The findings on the students' conceptual understanding were analyzed and categorized using the criteria of Westbrook and Marek, which divide the conceptual understanding into five levels, namely 1) complete understanding (CU), 2) partial understanding (PU), 3) partial understanding with specific alternative conception (PS), 4) alternative conception (AC) and 5) no understanding (NU). The results showed that most of the students' conceptual understanding of chemical reactions and biomolecules was at the AC level. The chemical reactions concept consisted of process of chemical reaction, chemical equation, type of chemical reaction, rate of reaction and factors that affect rate of reaction with AC percentages