ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTIONS AND OTHER DIFFICULTIES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING THE TOPIC: OZONE LAYER DEPLETION FOR HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL

Having noticed that the importance and impact of environmental issues as the ozone layer depletion, acid rain, climate change, etc. are rising each day, an investigation was made about the most important issues considered so by the Environment Secretaries of the American, Mexican, and Spanish governments. The high school Chemistry and Biology subjects study programs were analysed to find environmental themes and make a comparison. As a result of not having found in the specialized literature, research on the alternative conceptions presented by Mexican students regarding themes and concepts related to the ozone layer depletion, a tool was designed to investigate these and other learning difficulties in high school and first semesters of degree students in the UNAM. The designed tool was tested in a group of undergraduate students in the first semester and in a last year group of high school. This paper will present the results obtained and the comparison of these with those obtained by students from other countries.