Chemistry students’ ideas relating to molecules, compounds and elements

Abstract

Although chemistry is as captivating as the intricate particulate processes it endeavours to apprehend, many students experience difficulties in the subject. This is largely due to its abstract nature. In fact, the fundamental entities in the discipline, are unobservable. As a result, learner conceptual frameworks linked with these phenomena, are likely formulated such that they impose properties of the perceivable world, onto the nanoscopic one. Because learners interpret their physical surroundings in a unique manner, there exist a vast pool of erroneous ideas. If left unaltered, these flawed mental models impede further learning. Constructivist approaches to teaching, target said misconstrued notions in an attempt to modify their invalid dispositions. In order to be able to challenge said ideas, they must first be exposed. It is for this reason that this cross-sectional study aimed to diagnose Maltese students’ misconceptions relating to elements, compounds and molecules, across the main three tiers of schooling: secondary, post-secondary and tertiary. This was done via the distribution of a pencil-andpaper diagnostic questionnaire, to a total of 204 participants. Imprecise ideas put forward, were documented and evaluated accordingly. The frequency of occurrence of unsound notions, was less apparent with experience. Many pupils encountered difficulties when defining and labelling the related chemical species. Postulations that elements are single atoms, that ionic compounds are molecules, and that purely elementary molecules are compounds, were among the many to be presented. The identification of students’ misconceptions, will present multiple opportunities for educators to establish ways and means of dealing with said misconstrued, persistent ideas, all the while improving student learning.