Instructors are constantly baffled by the fact that two students who are sitting in the same class, who have access to the same materials, can come to understand a particular chemistry concept differently. Variation theory offers a theoretical framework from which to explore possible variations in experience and the resulting differences in…

This paper describes an expanded framework to aid chemical educators in constructing exams for their courses. The framework has three primary levels: definition, algorithmic, and conceptual. These primary levels have often been used in chemical education research to analyze and describe exam questions, but in this study the definition,…

A series of interactive, instructional units have been developed that integrate computational molecular modelling and visualization to teach fundamental chemistry concepts and the relationship between the molecular and macro-scales. The units span the scale from atoms, small molecules to macromolecular systems, and introduce many of the concepts…

This paper describes a study on research-oriented chemistry teacher education, in which fifty-six advanced, secondary school chemistry student teachers working in teams of two interviewed twenty-eight experienced chemistry teachers. The interviews focussed on teachers' personal viewpoints of how to best teach the different levels of…

We report in this paper on a study of chemistry teachers' perceptions of their teaching in upper secondary schools in Sweden, regarding models of acids and bases, especially the Bronsted and the Arrhenius model. A questionnaire consisting of a Likert-type scale was developed, which focused on teachers' knowledge of different models, knowledge of…

Secondary school chemistry teachers' understanding of chemical equilibrium was investigated through interviews using the think-aloud technique. The interviews were conducted with twelve volunteer chemistry teachers in Hong Kong. Their teaching experience ranged from 3 to 18 years. They were asked to predict what would happen to the equilibrium…

The curricula of teacher education need periodic revisions to respond to the evolution of educational objectives. Teachers' beliefs, as well as their characteristics, teaching attitudes and competency in their subject matter play a decisive role in the success of any reform. In this study, a cross-sectional survey was conducted across years 1-5 of…

This paper describes how a frame has been used to articulate the intentions of a pre-service chemistry education course to students of that course. The frame, which draws on appropriate knowledge bases for teachers of science, was also used through the teaching of the course as a diagnostic and development tool to assist the learning of these…

To achieve sufficient pedagogical content knowledge on nature of chemistry related issues, teachers need structured opportunities for reflection and discussion. One way to provide those opportunities is through teacher-scientist interaction. This study is based on reflective essays of thirty prospective teachers who participated in a new course…

This study aimed at identifying prospective chemistry teachers' misconceptions of colligative properties. In order to fulfill this aim, a diagnostic test composed of four open-ended questions was used. The test was administered to seventy-eight prospective chemistry teachers just before qualifying to teaching in secondary schools. Nine different…

Around 1960, there were quite radical changes in emphasis in many countries in school chemistry education, with subsequent changes in many university courses. Considerable research was undertaken to explore the learning problems students were reporting and the common thread underlying became apparent: it related to the way humans process new…

Mission statements of most HEIs across the UK support "student centred learning". In this paper, it is suggested that "teacher centred teaching" should also have a major role to play, improving the quality of the learning experience in higher education. Students are extremely diverse in their skills, weaknesses, and learning styles, but lecturers…

This study investigated the possible connection between effective laboratory activities and student performance on lecture exams. In a traditional undergraduate organic chemistry course for non-science majors, students could predict the products of organic reactions, but struggled to provide reaction mechanisms for those same reactions, despite…

The aim of this study was to elicit students' conceptions about big bubbles in boiling liquids (water, ethanol and aqueous CuSO[subscript 4] solution). The study is based on twenty-four students at different ages and grades. The clinical interviews technique was conducted to solicit students' conceptions and the interviews were analyzed to…

This article describes an empirical study concerning the mastering of the chemical equilibrium concept by prospective physical sciences teachers. The main objective was to check whether the concept of chemical equilibrium had become an integrating and unifying concept for them, that is to say an operational and functional knowledge to explain and…