Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Σύγχρονες Μέθοδοι Διδασκαλίας της ΧημείαςLibrary of the School of Science
Author:
Filippidis Theodoros
Supervisors info:
Ακρίβος Περικλής, καθηγητής, τμήμα Χημείας, Α.Π.Θ.
Original Title:
Μελέτη αφομοίωσης εννοιών σχετικά με τις περιεκτικότητες διαλυμάτων από μαθητές Γυμνασίου
Translated title:
Assimilation of concepts related to percent composition of aqueous solution by high school students
Summary:
The purpose of this thesis was to investigate whether high school students can understand concepts related to percent composition of aqueous solution as it is well documented that alternative concepts of students created at an early age are more difficult to deal with later on. Another objective of the present study was to investigate the possible positive contribution of laboratory experiments to the understanding of theoretical concepts related to the content of solutions.
Initially, a questionnaire was written, with a series of questions related to percent composition of aqueous solution, that is taught at the 3rd grade of Gymnasium. The distribution of the questionnaires was carried out by Chemistry teachers at the 1st grade of Lyceum, at the beginning of the school year. The questionnaires were anonymous and only information regarding the sex and the school were filled in. The schools involved were three, a non-urban school that did not perform laboratory experiments (A), one belonging to an urban area where laboratory experiments were held (B) and finally a school where laboratory experiments were held and belongs to a non-urban area (C). Altogether, 213 questionnaires were collected. The reliability of the queries and questionnaire was evaluated by calculating the difficulty index, discrimination index and reliability factor.
One of the main conclusions that emerged from the above study is that overall the marks achieved were very low. This suggests that the knowledge of Chemistry during Gymnasium was not transferred effectively. A further conclusion that was conducted from the study is that students had a better performance depending on their experience and the connection of concepts with the experimental process. Then, from the questionnaires collected, we can conclude that the distribution observed by the marks of the questionnaires is similar for boys and girls. Therefore, there is no gender "inclination" towards the science of Chemistry.
Main subject category:
Science
Keywords:
alternative conceptions, percent composition of aqueous solution, difficulty index, discrimination index, reliability factor
