Abstract:

Many students struggle to come to terms with the learning of chemistry (Kind, 2004). They usually possess pre-existing beliefs and alternative conceptions that are constructed from their every-day life experiences (Talanquer, 2006). The ideas some students have about physical-chemical transformations are completely at odds with the established chemical theory and the answers they find to chemical questions fit into their own pseudo-scientific built-in deeply-rooted model. If we want the conceptual framework to be learnt in a robust, sound way, then this personal pseudo-model has to be challenged and, eventually, demolished scientifically (Hand, 1988, Linenberger, 2012). If the students are not fully persuaded of the inexactness of their pre-existing beliefs, then they will build an academy-based model, the one they are taught and must use when sitting an exam, that will run parallel to their own, ‘sensible’, ‘experience-derived’ chemical model, for ever.

Biochemistry is a science that needs strong chemical foundations. Hence, students who are struggling with fundamental concepts from chemistry will be ill-equipped to analyse processes that are more sophisticated (Wolfson, 2014).

The first goal is to detect what these wrong ideas are. Once misconceptions are identified, a teaching-learning strategy can be conceived to address the problem (Coştu, 2010, Lawrie, 2013, Regan, 2011).

One effective way of unveiling students’ previous ideas is the multiple-choice questionnaire (Krause, 2004, Mulford, 2002, Peterson, 1989, Potgieter, 2011, Schwartz, 2014). We have used a validated questionnaire composed of 25 questions, divided into five key conceptual categories related to physical-chemical phenomena.#

These categories are:
a) Phase changes
b) Heat and energy
c) Conservation of matter
d) Aqueous solutions
e) Chemical equilibria

The survey was conducted with first-year Biochemistry undergraduates reading a course on General Chemistry during the first term of the 2014/15 academic year, at the University of Extremadura, Spain.

In this communication, we will present the methodology, results, analysis and conclusions drawn from this study.

References:
#Questions have been derived from Assoc. Prof G.A. Lawrie’s work, from the University of Queensland (Australia), who has kindly shared them with us by means of private communication.
[1] Coştu, B., Ayas, A. & Niaz, M. (2010). Chem. Educ. Res. Prac., 11, 5
[2] Hand, B. M. & Treagust, D. F. (1988). Res. Sci. Ed., 18, 53
[3] Kind, V. (2004). Beyond appearances: Students’ misconceptions about basic chemical ideas, 2nd edition. London, Royal Society of Chemistry.
[4] Krause, S., Birk, J., Bauer, R., Jenkins, B. & Pavelich, M. J. (2004). Paper presented at the 34th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, Savannah, Georgia, USA.
[5] Lawrie, G., Wright, A., O'Brien, G., Bedford, S., Schultz, M., Dargaville, T., Thompson, C. (2013). Int. J. FYHE, 4, 111
[6] Linenberger, K. J. & Bretz, S. L. (2012). Chem. Educ. Res. Prac., 13, 172
[7] Mulford, D. R. & Robinson, W. R. (2002). J. Chem. Educ., 79, 739
[8] Peterson, R. F., Treagust, D. F. & Garnett, P. (1989). J. Res. Sci. Teach., 26, 301
[9] Potgieter, M. & Davidowitz, B. (2011). Chem. Educ. Res. Prac., 12, 193
[10] Regan, Á., Childs, P. & Hayes, S. (2011). Chem. Educ. Res. Prac., 12, 219
[11] Schwartz, P. & Barbera, J. (2014). J. Chem. Educ., 91, 630
[12] Talanquer, V. (2006). J. Chem. Educ., 83, 811
[13] Wolfson, A. J., Rowland, S. L., Lawrie, G. A. & Wright, A. H. (2014). Chem. Educ. Res. Prac., 15, 168

Keywords:

Chemistry, misconceptions, multiple-choice questionnaire.