Vol 6 No1 tcm18-7048

January 2005 ISSN 1109-4028
Volume 6, Issue No 1 Pages 1 63
Chemistry Education Research and Practice
Published quarterly by The Royal Society of Chemistry

January 2005 ISSN 1109-4028 Contents Volume 6, Issue No 1 Pages 1-63
Papers Factors related to observed attitude change toward learning chemistry among university students...............................................................................................................................1-18 C. Anders R Berg Special section Teaching and learning acids and bases Textbooks and teachers understanding of acid-base models used in chemistry teaching...........................................................................................................19-35 Michal Drechsler and Hans-Jrgen Schmidt Conceptual change achieved through a new teaching program on acids and bases.................................................................................................................36-51 Gkhan Demirciolu, Alipaa Ayas and Hlya Demirciolu Traditional and computer-assisted learning in teaching acids and bases..................52-63 Inci Morgil, Soner Yavuz, zge zyalin Oskay and Seil Arda
Indexed/Abstracted in: CHEMICAL ABSTRACTS (CA) EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH ABSTRACTS ONLINE (ERA) http://www.tandf.co.uk/era

The journals, University Chemistry Education, published by The Royal Society of Chemistry, (http://www.rsc.org/uchemed/uchemed.htm) and Chemistry Education Research and Practice, published from the University of Ioannina, (http://www.uoi.gr/cerp/) have merged with effect from January 1st 2005. The new, fully electronic journal is published by The Royal Society of Chemistry under the title: Chemistry Education Research and Practice, and it will continue to be available free of charge on the Internet. There are four issues per year. The new journal is edited by Georgios Tsaparlis (gtseper@cc.uoi.gr) and Stephen Breuer (s.breuer@lancaster.ac.uk) and intends to maintain the high standards set by its predecessors. Its editorial policy will be the following. Chemistry Education Research and Practice is the journal for teachers, researchers and other practitioners in chemical education. It is the place to publish papers on: research, and reviews of research in chemical education; effective practice in the teaching of chemistry; in depth analyses of issues of direct relevance to chemical education Contributions can take the form of full papers, preliminary communications, perspectives on methodological and other issues of research and/or practice, reviews, letters relating to articles published and other issues, and brief reports on new and original approaches to the teaching of a specific topic or concept. The new journal welcomes contributions of the type described above; these should be sent to cerp@rsc.org.
Chemistry Education Research and Practice Editorial Board: Norman Reid (Chair, UK) Patrick Bailey (UK), George Bodner, (USA) Stephen Breuer (UK) Onno de Jong (Netherlands) Alex Johnstone (UK) Bernd Ralle (Germany) Georgios Tsaparlis (Greece) International Advisory Panel Liberato Cardellini (Italy) Peter Childs (Ireland) Jan van Driel (Netherlands) Michael Gagan (UK) Lszlo Szepes (Hungary) Iwona Maciejowska (Poland) Peter Mahaffy (Canada) Mansoor Niaz (Venezuela) Arlene Russell (USA) Keith Taber (UK) David Treagust (Australia) Uri Zoller (Israel)

Guidelines for Authors Submission of contributions Chemistry Education Research and Practice (CERP) is the journal for teachers, researchers and other practitioners in chemical education. It is published free of charge, electronically, by The Royal Society of Chemistry, four times a year. It is the place to publish papers on: research, and reviews of research in chemical education; effective practice in the teaching of chemistry; in depth analyses of issues of direct relevance to chemical education
Contributions can take the form of full papers, preliminary communications, perspectives on methodological and other issues of research and/or practice, reviews, letters relating to articles published and other issues, and brief reports on new and original approaches to the teaching of a specific topic or concept. 1. The original contribution should be submitted electronically, preferably in Word for Windows format. Any associated diagrams should be attached in JPG or GIF format, if possible. Submissions should be made by e-mail as a file attachment to cerp@rsc.org, or directly to the editors: Stephen Breuer at s.breuer@lancaster.ac.uk or to Georgios Tsaparlis (gtseper@cc.uoi.gr). Submitted contributions are expected to fall into one of several categories (listed above). Authors are invited to suggest the category into which the work should best fit, but the editors reserve the right to assign it to a different category if that seems appropriate. A word count (excluding references, tables, legends etc) should be included at the end of the document. 3. Presentation should be uniform throughout the article. Text should be typed in 12pt Times New Roman (or similar), with 1"/ 2.5 cm margins, double-spaced, unjustified, ranged left and not hyphenated. Always use an appropriate mix of upper and lower case letters: do not type words in uppercase letters either in the text or in headings. Bold or italic text and not upper case letters should be used for emphasis. All nomenclature and units should comply with IUPAC conventions. Tables and figures should be numbered consecutively as they are referred to in the text (use a separate sequence of numbers for tables and for figures). Each should have an informative title and may have a legend.
2.
Equations should be written into the text using the word processing program, either as normal text or using the programs equation facility. Structures should, wherever possible, be treated as a figure and not incorporated into text. References should be given by the name of the author (or the first author, if more than one), followed by the year of publication. If an author has more than one reference from the same year, then it should be given as Smith 2001a, Smith 2001b, etc. Footnotes should be generally avoided and important additional information may be referenced and included in the reference list. 4. A title page must be provided, comprising: an informative title; authors names and affiliation, full postal address and e-mail; (in the case of multiauthored papers, use an asterisk to indicate one author for correspondence, and superscript a, b, etc. to indicate the associated addresses); an abstract of not more than 200 words; keywords identifying the main topics covered in the paper Wherever possible articles should be subsectioned with headings, subheadings and subsub-headings. Do not go lower than sub-sub-headings. Sections should not be numbered. The introduction should set the context for the work to be described; include references to previous related work, and outline the educational objectives. A concluding section (which need not be headed conclusion) will include an evaluation of the extent to which educational objectives have been met. A subjective evaluation may be acceptable. 6. The formatting of references should follow the following practice: Books and Special Publications: Author A., (year), Title of the book italicized, Publisher, Place of publication, page no. if applicable. Journal Articles: Author A., Author B. and Author C., (year), Title of the article in Roman type, Full Name of the Journal Italicised, Volume no. in Bold, inclusive page numbers. For example: Osborne R. and Freyberg P., (1985), Learning in science: the implication of childrens science, Heinemann, London. Jackman L.E. and Moellenberg W., (1987), Evaluation of three instructional methods for teaching general chemistry, Journal of Chemical Education, 64, 794-96. 7. All contributions submitted will be refereed anonymously by two independent referees. In case of a disagreement a third referee will be consulted. The decision of the Editors on
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the acceptance of articles is final. 8. Authors grant CERP the exclusive right to publish articles. They undertake that their article is their original work, and does not infringe the copyright of any other person, or otherwise break any obligation to, or interfere with the rights of such a person, and that it contains nothing defamatory. Articles will be published on the Web in PDF and HTML formats.
9.
Educational research
Factors related to observed attitude change toward learning chemistry among university students
C. Anders R. Berg Chemical Education Research and Development, Department of Chemistry, Kemihuset, Ume Universitet, 90187, Ume, Sweden. e-mail Anders.Berg@chem.umu.se
Received 11 November 2004, accepted 12 January 2005
Abstract: To gain insight into factors associated with changes in attitude toward learning chemistry, six students who displayed major attitude changes were identified through a pre- and post-course attitude questionnaire administered to sixty-six first-year university chemistry students. Those with largest attitude changes, both positive and negative, were selected to highlight the contrast between students. The six students were interviewed; descriptions of their one-semester chemistry course experiences were analyzed to identify factors associated with their change in attitude. A positive attitude change was associated with evidence of motivated behaviour, while a negative change was linked to less motivated behaviour. Students addressed similar factors in the educational setting, but students with positive attitude changes exhibited fewer negative views of educational factors, while students with negative attitude changes showed an opposite pattern. Since the same factors, students perceived level of teacher empathy for their efforts at chemistry learning, affected both groups, this indicates a possibility for changes in educational setting beneficial to all students. [Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 2005, 6 (1), 1-18] Keywords: attitude change; motivation; university chemistry.
Introduction If university teachers are asked, what is the most important student characteristic associated with successful studies, they usually mention traits such as attitude, motivation, and genuine interest. Similarly, questions about the importance of attitude (Dalgety et al., 2003), and of motivation (Covington, 2000) have been investigated by many educational researchers. University students attitude towards learning chemistry is the focus of this study. To gain insight in what could influence changes in attitude, six first-year university students, attending an introductory chemistry course and displaying large changes in attitude toward learning chemistry were identified through questionnaires about attitudes before and after the course. These students were further interviewed about their chemistry course, in order to determine factors associated with their positive or negative change in attitude and its relation to motivation and contextual factors. The study intended to address the following two research questions: What factors are related to students shift in attitude toward learning in a university chemistry context? What is the relative significance of the factors thus identified? Two additional, related, important aspects that this study touched upon were: (a) the relationship between epistemological beliefs, motivation, and learning; (b) the effect of the
Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 2005, 6 (1), 1-18 This journal is The Royal Society of Chemistry
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educational setting on students attitudes. These are treated in Appendixes 1 and 2 respectively. Perrys theory of intellectual and ethical development of college students A considerable part of theoretical thinking on the development of student attitudes originates from William Perrys book, Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development During the College Years: A Scheme. For an extensive overview of Perrys work and subsequent research, see Hofer and Pintrich (1997). Perry developed a theory of intellectual and ethical development among college students. He portrayed a developmental process and not static personality traits, and described nine stages, or positions, usually condensed into four sequential categories (Fitch et al., 1984; Moore, 1994). Dualism (Perry positions 1-2) is characterized by a dualistic right or wrong view of the worldauthorities supposedly know the truth, which the learner could acquire. The role of the student is to learn the right answers. Multiplicity (Perry positions 3-4) represents a modification of dualism, with the possible inclusion of not yet known, in addition to right or wrong. The role of a learner is to find knowledge and also to think for oneself. Contextual relativism (Perry positions 5-6) represents a major shift in perspective from a world with many exceptions to right or wrong, to the opposite view, that everything is relative and context-bound, with few right or wrong answers. The learner is an active maker of meaning within a context. Commitment within relativism (Perry positions 7-9) mainly concerns elaboration of identity and does not refer to cognitive change. Very few undergraduate students reach the Perry positions 7-9 (Moore, 1994). Perrys work was later modified (Fitch, 1984; Finster, 1991), and applied to science education (Mackenzie et al., 2003). Finster adopted the Perry scheme in the context of chemical education and presented examples of how a students attitude position could affect how the roles of instructor, evaluation, and laboratory activities are viewed. This paper follows this tradition, analyzing student attitudes towards learning in terms of views of knowledge, assessment, laboratory activities, and perceptions of the roles of instructor and student. It thus has a broader view regarding both the attitude object and attitudes than is common in most science education research. Experimental design Sample and method This investigation was completed during a 20-week, full-time introductory university chemistry course. Seventy-two students attended the course, and data were collected from sixty-six of them. Students were majoring in chemistry, biology, chemical engineering, biological engineering, and teacher training. The main areas of chemistry (general, inorganic, organic, physical and biochemistry) were covered in the course. Components of the schedule were whole-group lectures, and also tutorials, seminars, and laboratory activities, all the latter in smaller groups with 12-15 students. During the course students changed lecturers and lesson/laboratory instructors for each area of chemistry. Almost all, including the six students (three men, three women) interviewed in-depth, were first-year students. To gain insight in what could influence changes in attitude toward learning chemistry; six students displaying such changes were identified through a pre- and post-attitude questionnaire administered to the sixty-six students. To understand attitude change, which generally is a long-term process, it is informative to investigate those students in whom marked attitude change has occurred.
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The students selected for the interviews were those displaying the largest pre/post changes in attitudes toward learning, as assessed by the questionnaire (see below) and whom this researcher was able to contact. Three students initially selected for interviews could not be reached after the end of the course. Course results and the study program were not criteria for selection but a brief description is presented below. The six interviewed students showed a mixed picture of course results as measured by examination scores and completed laboratory reports. The three students with positive attitude shifts showed results above average and also above the three students showing negative attitude shift. The three students with negative shifts also showed about average results in the course. All the teaching and all parts of this investigation were carried out in Swedish. The examples from the questionnaire and the interview quotations were all translated from Swedish. An overview of the experimental design is presented in Figure 1. Figure 1. Overview of the experimental design.
In-depth interviews with 6 students showing m ajor attitude changes
1 1
Pre and po st questionnaire 66 students 1 2
App lying Pin trich mo del for d eeper analysis of interviews

1
5 Ch ang es in attitude and its relation to mo tivation and contextual factors for 6 students show ing m ajor attitude changes.
Ch ang e inattitude
Preliminary analysis of interv iew s
= main fo cus of study
Questionnaire for measuring attitude towards learning During the second day of the course, a questionnaire was distributed and 20 weeks later, at the end of the course, the same questionnaire was distributed again. The attitude questionnaire is based on work by Perry (1970) and subsequent applications made in chemistry (Finster, 1991; Mackenzie et al., 2003), and constitutes a further development of other extant questionnaires (Henderleiter et al., 1999; Berg et al., 2003). Another chemistry attitudes and experiences questionnaire has been developed by Dalgety et al. (Coll et al., 2002, Dalgety et al., 2003), but was not used in this work. The questionnaire was designed to assess the attitudes of students towards chemistry learning. It addressed students view of knowledge, the role of the teacher, students perception of their own role, of assessment and of laboratory activities. The instrument consists of thirty-four statements representing two viewpoints of the attitude object (Reid, 2003). To avoid the possibility of ambiguity, both views of each item were described with a statement. As an example, the statement Learning all the material covered in lectures should be enough to pass the course could prompt the response disagree from two students
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holding very different views. I strongly disagree since you should know much more and I strongly disagree since it is enough to know part of what has been covered in lectures. With the two-sided format, this possibility for ambiguity was avoided. The response categories were, Strongly Agree, Agree, Undecided, Agree, Strongly Agree. Each statement pair in the current attitude instrument characterizes fully reasonable views, with no viewpoint obviously preferred over the other. To paraphrase Perry (1970), each statement pair ideally characterizes two different positions from which a person views his world, See Table 1 for illustrative items. Table 1. Some illustrative items from the attitude questionnaire.
SA A 1 Learning the material covered in the lectures should be enough to pass a course. 3 I think that lecturers should avoid including course material that is difficult for the students. N A SA Learning the material covered in the lectures is not enough to pass a course. I think that lecturers should include difficult course material to provide a challenge for the students.
19 I believe that I best learn the theory illustrated in the lab by planning and completing the experiment myself.
I believe that I best learn the theory illustrated in the lab if there are explicit instructions showing how the experiment should be designed and completed. To perform laboratory experiments with real samples is too time consuming and complicated to be worth the effort.
30 It is important to include working with real samples e.g. ores or food during laboratory work even if it takes more time and is more complicated.
Analysis of responses from the attitude questionnaire, Step 1 in Figure 1, was conducted using PCA, principal component analysis (Eriksson et al., 2001). PCA is a multivariate technique in which several related variables (in this case questionnaire items) are transformed into a smaller set of uncorrelated variables, principal components. PCA resembles factor analysis (FA), but is not the same as FA. The main difference is that PCA explains variability and has a unique solution, whereas FA explains correlation and estimates are not unique (Jackson, 1991). The first principal component describes as much as possible variability within the data. If the questionnaire is properly designed, the first principal component largely covers what was intended to measure by the items. Another way to describe this is that the first principal component measures the underlying basic attitude that manifests itself in the answers to questionnaire items. In this study, the first principal component describes attitude towards learning, since the statements are designed to assess views of knowledge, perception of the role of the instructor and student, assessment and laboratory activities. In our research group, data from approximately 1000 students in >10 groups collected over four years are available for analysis. Within groups a stable first principal component can be found with loadings from items showing a common pattern. PCA was used in the analysis since it is possible to position each student within the model described by the principal component. This possibility was important in selecting students for interviews, since individual student attitude shifts, within that principal component, can be calculated. Construct validity for the instrument is suggested by the fact that more than fifty interviews have been conducted where the
C. Anders R. Berg
interviewer did not know the students position beforehand (the interviewer only knew that students represented a relatively high or low attitude position) but after the interview the interviewer could conclude that the student held a higher position, HiPos, or lower position, LoPos, always being consistent with the position indicated by the instrument (Berg et al., 2003). It has also been shown that learning outcome (defined as frequency and level of students spontaneous use of chemical knowledge) from pre-lab activity and cognitive focus during laboratory work are affected by the students position in the first principal component (Winberg et al., 2004), also suggesting that the instrument assesses central aspects important for learning. Attitude questionnaires were collected from the sixty-six students of the sample, at both the beginning and end of course and a PCA model was fitted. These students attitude shift in the first principal component was calculated; see Figure 2. The interviews As described above, six students, showing major pre- vs. post-course shifts in attitudes toward learning chemistry (three with positive and three with negative shifts) were interviewed (Step 2 in Figure 1). Their attitude shifts, compared to the whole group, are shown in Figure 2. Interviews were chosen as a means to obtain detailed, rich information (Perry, 1970; Hofer et al., 1997; Hofer, 2001). This researcher conducted all the interviews 4-6 weeks after end of the course. The 1-2 hour interviews were quite open, since it was not known or decided beforehand what factors could be related to the attitude shift. The interviewer did not know the direction of shift of each student, only that the students attitude had changed considerably. (A colleague performed the translation of coded identities into names.) The interviews consisted of three main questions: 1 What is your background (previous education, secondary education, working experiences, plans for the future, etc.)? 2 Could you describe your experiences during this semester of chemistry studies? 3 What further thoughts do you have about what has been said in Parts 1 and 2 of this interview? Each student was free to select topics to talk about during the interview. Nevertheless, the interviewer tried to explore the students study methods, and his/her experiences of the teaching and laboratory work. In addition, the intention was to highlight important aspects of student attitudes towards learning. If the student, for example, mentioned that the reason I found the course interesting was lectures by X, the answer was followed up with the question, could you try to think what made the course interesting? and, eventually, if needed, was it something the lecturer did, how he did it, or what? Analysis of interviews was completed in four stages. During the first stage, interview passages containing information judged as relevant were marked, Step 3 in Figure 1. These passages were given short descriptions such as experienced lack of time, appreciated working with friends, well prepared before laboratory work, and engaged teacher. Markings and descriptions were completed with a computer program, QMA (qualitative media analyzer) (Skou, 2001). This preliminary analysis produced approximately 30 descriptors, and became a starting point for the second stage of analysis, aimed at obtaining more systematic simple categories. The descriptors were found to fit well into Pintrichs model (1994), Step 4 in Figure 1 - the majority of descriptors falling into the categories contextual factors and motivated behaviour, and several into internal factors (Table 2).
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Table 2. Model for student motivation, after Pintrich (1994) (slightly modified). Contextual Factors
Factors influencing student motivation
Internal Factors
Beliefs and emotions assumed to mediate between context and behaviour 1) Expectancy Components - Control beliefs - Attributions - Learned helplessness - Self-efficacy
Motivated Behaviour
Observable behaviours that can be used as indicators of motivation
1) Nature of Tasks - Content/Product
1) Choice Behaviour - Working on course instead of leisure activity - Electing to take another course in discipline - Selecting discipline for a major or going on to graduate school or a career in area 2) Level of activity and Involvement - Trying very hard - Studying effectively, use of learning strategies - Thinking deeply, critically about material - Asking questions, taking risks in expressing ideas - High level of performance/achievement 3) Persistence Behaviour/Regulation of Effort - Maintaining effort in face of difficulty - Maintaining effort on boring tasks - Maintaining effort even when fatigued
2) Reward/Goal structures - Individualistic - Cooperative/Competitive
2) Value Components - Intrinsic/Extrinsic goals - Task value - Personal interest
3) Instructional Methods
3) Affective Components - Test anxiety - Self-worth - Other emotions (pride, shame)
4) Instructor Behaviour
During the third stage of analysis, all marked passages were re-marked, using categories from motivated behaviour and contextual factors. The categories were tagged with positive or negative descriptions. If, for example, a student stated, Instead of studying (what the student had planned to do) I went jogging, the passage was marked choice behaviour negative. If, on the other hand, the student stated that rather than going to the cinema with friends, she/he prepared for the next days laboratory exercise, the passage was marked as choice behaviour positive. The third stage provided an overview of the data; the total passages in different categories were summarized. A more qualitative analysis was then conducted in the fourth stage where the interview data were summarized under subcategories within motivated behaviour and contextual factors, Step 5 in Figure 1. Results The attitude shift data for all sixty-six students are presented in Figure 2, together with identification of the six students with major attitude changes who were chosen for further investigation. Table 3 and 4 summarize the total passages in different motivational and contextual categories. This quantitative measure provides a partial answer to the first research question, what factors are related to students shift in attitude towards learning in a university chemistry context? But it could also provide information related to the second research question, what is the relative significance of the identified factors? A more in-depth analysis of the interviews is presented in the next section, containing short summaries of each motivational and contextual subcategory. This analysis provides a
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qualitative perspective to the research questions posed, since nuances and emphases offered by students could be captured. Attitude shift for the whole group and the six interviewed students Pre- and post-course questionnaires were collected for sixty-six students, forty-three females and twenty-three males (Figure 2). This represents 92% of students who completed the entire course. The students showed a statistically significant shift toward the negative direction in principal component 1 (two sided paired t-test = 4.17, p < 0.01). This group shift in the negative direction is interesting in itself, but was not a focus of the present study. Figure 2. Attitude shifts for student group (n = 66). The six interviewed students with major attitude changes are found in the darkened bars.
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Num ber of students
10 8 6 4 2 0 -5 -4 .5 -4 -3.5 -3 -2.5 -2 -1.5 -1

S h ift
-0.5
0.5
1.5
2.5
Numbers of passages in motivational and contextual categories For all six interviewed students positive examples of motivated behaviour were found, but students with positive shifts show higher frequencies in all three categorieschoice, activity, and persistence (Table 3). More passages that revealed less motivated behaviour were found among students with negative attitude shifts. For students with positive shifts, no examples of negative choices were found. The main difference between the two groups was that students with negative shifts showed forty-three examples of lacking motivation, while students with positive shifts showed seven such examples. Table 3. Total number of passages within motivational categories Motivation category Students with positive shift Motivation positive Choice Activity Persistence 12 23 7 Motivation negative 0 2 5 Students with negative shift Motivation positive 3 20 3 Motivation negative 9 23 11
C. Anders R. Berg
Relations between attitude shifts and contextual factors are interesting to analyze, since contextual factors could be expected to cause a change in attitude. Positive opinions of context are found in both groups of students (Table 4). The only major difference is that students with a positive attitude shift have twice as many passages concerning instructional methods. Students with negative shifts expressed negative views of context more frequently. This group has more than five times as many coded passages in all four contextual categories than did students with positive shifts. Table 4. Total number of passages within contextual categories. Contextual category Students with positive shift Context positive Tasks Reward/Goal Instructional methods Instructor behaviour 12 10 26 12 Context negative 3 1 5 2 Students with negative shift Context positive 8 6 13 14 Context negative 20 12 29 12
Student motivational behaviour As summarized above, a positive attitude shift is associated with more motivated behaviour, while a negative shift is linked to less-motivated behaviour. More details are presented below from interviews of the six students showing major attitude changes that illustrate this overall picture. Data from the interviews are first presented in a condensed format in Table 5 where central themes expressed by students showing positive and negative attitude shifts are contrasted. More details are then presented under the three categories given by Pintrich (1994), (1) Choice behaviour, (2) Level of activity, and Involvement, and (3) Persistence behaviour/Regulation of effort. Table 5. Student reflections on motivational behaviour. Motivated behaviour
1) Choice Behaviour
Students with positive shift: central themes

Attended all offered teaching and chose to study further chemistry Worked full time or more on course. Used conscious study strategies. Course involvement remained high. Persistent when encountering demanding tasks and studied hard even after failures.
Students with negative shift: central themes

Did not attend all offered teaching and chose to study no further chemistry Worked full time or less on course. Study strategies were teacher dependent. Course involvement declined over time. Less persistent when encountering demanding tasks. Had good intentions that sometimes remained unfulfilled.
2) Level of Activity and Involvement
3) Persistence Behaviour/Regulation of Effort
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Choice behaviour Most of the six students made several positive choices before entering the university e.g. studying subjects in upper secondary school to fulfil university admission requirements and taking extra secondary-school courses. The fact that they started studying chemistry at the university is an example of a positive choice. Two of the three students showing positive shifts have applied for more chemistry courses than is required in their undergraduate programmes; in the group showing negative attitude shifts, none. One of these students has elected to leave the program. All instructional activities, apart from laboratory exercises, safety briefings and exams, are voluntary. The three students with positive shifts participated in all or most instructional activities. In the student group with negative shifts more examples of not attending offered chemistry activities are found. In the group showing negative shifts some students talked about choosing leisure activities before intended studies: I went skiing instead of studying during Christmas. Usually I could not concentrate as long as I had planned, but went jogging instead. Level of activity and involvement One possible measure of student involvement is the total time devoted to studies. All three students showing positive shifts claimed that they studied 40 h/week or more, including lectures and classes, but only one student made that claim in the group showing negative shifts. Examples of elaborated and conscious study strategies can be found in both groups, but it is clear that the three students with positive shifts used more conscious study strategies, such as staying in phase with lectures. They were also more aware of why they did this: This is the method (studying continuously and staying in phase with the course) I have developed during my years of study. By contrast, one student with a negative attitude shift commenting on self-discipline/regulation and the role of the teacher argued, If you dont have to study you dont study. Two of three students with negative shifts explained that their involvement in the course had gradually declined over time, while this was not found at all among students showing positive shifts. Persistence behaviour / regulation of effort The observed pattern of student persistence and regulation of effort is complex. However it is clear that all three students showing negative attitude shifts tended to lack persistence when encountering new tasks or course demands. For example, one student found that the task of planning/preparing for laboratory activities took too much time. However, the picture for students showing negative shifts was unclear. Some instances of great effort can be found, i.e. working nine hours to really understand a laboratory activity. What is typical is that even though these students may have good intentions and understand the relevance of tasks, their persistence is low when encountering fuzzy tasks (ill structured or ill formulated tasks) or teachers just giving formulae. The three students showing positive shifts displayed more persistence when encountering demanding tasks. For example, they showed a willingness to continue studying even after failing an exam, I will learn this even better. One student showing a positive attitude shift explained his point by saying, Im not brilliant, but Im rather stubborn and focused. Student contextual factors Students reasoning about contextual factors is presented under the four Pintrich (1994) categories: (1) Perception of instructor behaviour, (2) Perception of tasks, (3) Perception of reward and goal structures, and (4) Perception of instructional methods. Data from the
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interviews are first presented in a condensed format in Table 6 where central themes expressed by students showing positive and negative attitude shifts are contrasted. More details are then presented for each contextual factor. Table 6.Students reflections on contextual issues Contextual Factors
1) Nature of Tasks
Students with positive shift: central views

Appreciation or acceptance of task. Task requiring self regulated learning viewed as acceptable or suitable. Applications of chemistry (e.g. to biology) not mentioned as important.
Students with negative shift: central views

More complex and critical views of tasks. Tasks requiring self regulated learning viewed as too demanding or time consuming. Applications of chemistry (e.g. to biology) mentioned as important and interesting
2) Reward and Goal structures 3) Instructional Methods
Possibilities to work collaboratively seen as positive. Good examination results viewed as encouraging. Generally positive view of instructional methods. Experienced lack of time during the course was less prominent. Less positive view of instructional methods. Experienced lack of time during the course was prominent.
4) Instructor Behaviour
Coherent descriptions of good teachers and bad teachers. Alternative explanations, eagerness to answer questions, being available and showing an understanding that certain topics are hard to understand were appreciated traits. Bad teachers were described as the opposite.
Perception of tasks All three students with positive attitude shifts gave mainly positive views of tasks. Two specifically mentioned tutorials with broader and more open-ended questions as very useful for deeper processing of knowledge. As one student stated, I got on further in my knowledge (during tutorials). The anticipation, or at least acceptance, of demanding tasks, e.g. planning open laboratory activities and tutorials, was found for two of three students with positive shifts. The students with negative attitude shifts did not mention such tasks as something positive. One student clearly stated that she wanted to understand, but opposes course demands for self-regulated learning (i.e. preparing individual flow charts for laboratory activities). One student with a negative shift clearly stated that he wants more tasks clearly connected to biology, and was very positive about the few connections that were made to biology. Among students with positive shifts, this need for applications in biology was not expressed. One student even commented with astonishment/self-surprise that she appreciated tasks without connection to biology. Both of these students pursued a major in biology. To summarize, students with positive attitude shifts appreciated or at least accepted most course tasks presented to them. Students with negative shifts expressed more complex and critical views. These critical views were most apparent for tasks that required self-regulated and more demanding learning.
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Perception of reward and goal structures Two students with negative attitude shifts and one with a positive shift described the possibilities of working together during laboratory activities and exercises as very positive; no student mentioned it as something negative. It is obvious that good examination results (sometimes described as better than expected) are very important for self-confidence. This was highlighted by five of six interviewed students. A student with positive shift, who had been very nervous before the first examination, commented: I was one of the better ones in the exam and my self confidence grew. Only one student with a negative shift didnt describe growing self-confidence after passing examsthis student had not passed exams. Perception of instructional methods At a surface level, a continuum was observed in student perception of instructional methods, with three students showing positive shifts on one side and three showing negative shifts on the other. The student with the most positive shift concluded, You (teachers and the department of chemistry) have done what I as a student could expect in a passage where he reported that he attended and appreciated lectures, laboratory work, and exercises during the course. At the other end of the continuum, a student with negative shift characterized her impression of laboratory work as, I just wanted it to end and contrasted the demanding studies she experienced with other less-demanding studies. This student also stressed she experienced lack of time. Regarding lack of time, only one student with positive attitude shift mentioned this, while all three students with negative shifts, in some instances, claimed to have experienced lack of time. The possibility of asking questions and receiving answers was described as positive by all three students showing positive shift, while only one student with negative shift gave the same description. The lack of personal contact described by one student with negative shift could be viewed as an opposite experience, since the opportunity of asking questions is one type of personal contact. Perception of instructor behaviour The interviewed students devoted considerable attention to their teachers and their behaviour. They often spontaneously contrasted good teachers with bad teachers. An example of this was a student who appreciated teachers who were able to give alternative explanations when she did not understand. She gave an example of the opposite: he didnt listen to what we wanted to (be clarified) but instead just said the same thing once more. This way of describing instructor behaviour was used both by students showing negative and positive shifts (two of three in both groups). The descriptions of good teachers were very similar within both groups. The students described good teachers as: creating an atmosphere where it is accepted to ask questions; giving alternative explanations when students dont understand; being structured, being available, and realizing that certain areas of chemistry are hard for students to understand. The student descriptions of bad teachers also share many traits in common, such as: seeming to become angry when students ask questions; answering by saying this is the way it is, and seeming to want to be somewhere else.
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Summary of information found for the two research questions First research question: What factors are related to students shift in attitude toward learning in a university chemistry context? Evidence from interviews coinciding with Pintrichs model. The first step in analyzing the interview material resulted in approximately thirty categories, which included everything judged as relevant. During the next stage of analysis these categories were found to fit a model of motivation described by Pintrich (1994) (see Table 2). In Pintrichs model, contextual factors in conjunction with students internal factors (motivational beliefs and emotions) affect motivation, which can be seen in motivated behaviour. This model is, as Pintrich emphasizes, a simplification, since this relationship is also reciprocal. Information about internal factors generally absent. During analysis of the interviews using Pintrichs categories, some passages fell into internal categories (e.g. self efficacy and task value), but these internal factors are not readily accessiblethey are, as described, internal. An attempt was made, nevertheless, to describe information gained in this category. For two students, one with positive and one with negative shift, internal information was obtained, while the remaining interviews contained almost no information regarding internal factors. One way to understand this could be that students employing metacognition were able to give information on these internal factors during interviews, while those lacking metacognitive skills could not. This would be in accord with previous findings that the majority of college students fail to show metacognitive skills (Hofer et al., 1997). Contextual and motivational categories show clear relations to attitude change. The relation found between attitude shift and student motivation is that a positive attitude shift is associated with motivated behaviour while a negative shift is linked to less motivated behaviour. This is found for all three motivational categories, choice behaviour, level of activity and involvement, and persistence. The primary relationship found between attitude shift and contextual factors is that students with negative shifts give many more instances expressing negative views of context and also employ greater emphasis. This is found for all four categories, nature of tasks, reward and goal structures, instructional methods, and instructor behaviour. Students with positive attitude shift show essentially the opposite pattern with more instances and emphasis related to positive views of contextual factors. The descriptions of the semester showed a mixed picture. The finding of a mixed picture containing both negative and positive views expressed by students is perhaps not surprising, since interviewed students described one full semester of chemistry studies. During this semester they had encountered all main areas of chemistry and numerous different teachers. Although both groups displayed this mixed picture of experiences, what is most notable is that negative views of context and examples of less motivated behaviour are more frequent among those students with negative attitude shifts. The second research question: What is the relative significance of those identified factors? The interviewed students views of context are valuable since contextual factors could, at least partly, be an underlying cause of attitude change (Osborne et al., 2003). Evidence of
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motivated behaviour, on the other hand, could be viewed as confirming a positive attitude change. The difference is in the balance of experiences. The pattern of roughly as many positive views of context for both groups and many more negative views expressed by students with negative shifts (Table 4) indicates that the main difference is the balance between positive and negative experiences. For students with negative attitude shifts the balance tilted in a less favourable direction. This is especially pronounced for tasks and instructional methods where negative views were more than twice as frequent as were positive views. In contrast, the group with positive attitude shifts show at least three times more positive views of context compared to total negative views within all four categories. Good and bad teachers, consensus among students. Students with both positive and negative attitude shifts share essentially similar views of instructor behaviour. They speak frequently about their teachers with considerable emphasis suggesting that this is important to them. Good instructor behaviour is described by both groups as: eager to answer questions; being available and having an understanding that certain things are hard for students to understand. It is instructive to reflect upon what was not said about teachers. An example is that teachers knowledge in chemistry was never mentioned, even though students spoke considerably about their teachers. Within the category of reward and goal structures, students also agree that the opportunity to work collaboratively was appreciated and good examination results were viewed as encouraging. Tasks and instructional methods, disagreement among students. Regarding the nature of tasks and instructional methods, some discrepancies are worth noting. For tasks requiring more self-regulated learning, such as planning open experiments and tutorials, students with positive attitude shifts reveal greater acceptance, while students with negative attitude shifts are more reluctant to express positive views, even if they expressed an understanding of the relevance of such tasks. Experienced time constraint is another factor where views of the two groups differ. Students shifting negatively in attitudes generally reported more time constraints in their chemistry classes than did positive-shift students. Same factors but difference in experience. Regarding the relative significance of identified factors, it can be concluded that both groups spoke about similar factors, but the balance between positive and negative views differs considerably between groups. Students showing positive attitude shift exhibited few negative views of context, tilting the balance favourably, while students with negative attitude shifts show the opposite pattern. Discussion Show students respect in their chemistry learning The overall goal of this study was to obtain insights regarding what factors within a university chemistry setting can favourably affect student attitudes and motivation. Much of what was found could be summarized as an instructor admonition show the students respect. That instructor respect can be conveyed as a genuine interest in student learning, offering clear goals and instructions, expressing acknowledgement that certain tasks can be difficult for students, and being available for students. The teachers respect and empathy for students learning (or the opposite) was a thought that all interviewed students expressed;
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some examples/suggestions are offered in Table 5 regarding how this respect and empathy could be conveyed in more concrete terms. The examples given should not be viewed as patent solutions or as the only important aspects of learning, but as factors, which, according to this study, could favourably affect student motivation and learning. Table 5.Summary of suggested educational implications.
Stimulate situations/atmosphere like these

Teachers being available (mentally and physically) to students, creating an atmosphere where it is acceptable to ask questions and it is accepted that everything may not be understood immediately. Teachers being accessible especially when students approach demanding tasks. Opportunities for students to work collaboratively and exchange ideas. Where appropriate and possible, connect chemistry to other subjects and situations. Convey clear instructions and goals especially when students are expected to accomplish intellectually demanding or new taskse.g. planning experiments or tutorial questions with no clear, single answer.
Avoid situations/atmosphere like these

Teachers just teaching with no genuine interest conveyed in student learning. Viewing student questions and problems as unwanted interruptions in their teaching. Students not allowed contact with teachers especially during demanding tasks. Individualistic, competitive atmosphere producing only a few winners. Chemistry viewed as an isolated subject with no applications to areas outside chemistry. Assigning students ill formulated or badly planned experiments or tasks. This should not rule out ill formulated tasks if they are intentionally set and students are aware that reality is seldom simple and that they must learn to deal with such situations. Create real or perceived lack of time so that students feel that its useless for me to try.
Allocate enough time for students to accomplish a task and communicate clear goals for what is expected.
The examples given above are congruent with much previous research (Dalgety et al., 2003; Osborne et al., 2003 and references therein) and, hopefully, also in accord with personal experiences of university teachers. Remember, that these examples are based on what, according to the interviews, stood out for students. Learning conditions suitable for all students It is worth noting that students in their descriptions of teachers contrast the pros and cons; the most striking feature is similar descriptions (of good and bad teachers) from both students with negative and positive shifts. This indicates a consensus among the six students of the characteristics a good teacher. Support for the commonly expressed view that anything I do as a teacher will be good for some and bad for others is not found in this study. Instead, students give quite coherent descriptions of what they have appreciated and valued, but also what has not been experienced as especially positive. A trait described positively by some students is not described negatively by others or vice versa. The only example pointing in this direction is acceptance of more demanding tasks (e.g. planning your own experiments), which was found among students with positive attitude shifts, whereas students with negative attitude shifts often mentioned this kind of tasks as too demanding. In the interviews there are indications that major student objections toward these demanding tasks is attributable to time constraints and unclear goals, and not necessarily to the demanding tasks themselves. This
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illustrates the importance of clear aims and goals in conjunction with appropriate time allocated for tasks. Two areas at the periphery of this study are the importance of students internal factors, such as self-efficacy and goals, and the attitude change of the entire group of students over the course. With respect to internal factors, the data collected was not considered rich enough for analysis, something that could perhaps be overcome by an interview format aiming at those internal factors. The observed negative attitude shift of the entire group of students in this study (Figure 2) is not particularly encouraging, since goals of university education are to provide the students with a capability of independent and critical judgment, an ability independently to solve problems and an ability to follow the development of knowledge, all within the field covered by the education (Swedish higher education act, 1992). One constructive way to approach this important but disappointing finding could be through action research, based on this and other studies (Dalgety et al., 2003) clearly focusing on student attitude development as a complement to other efforts to create environments suitable for good learning. Final reflections After listening to students and trying to evaluate the relationship among attitude towards learning, motivation, learning context and, ultimately, learning outcomes, this researcher is struck by the differences/discrepancies in students stories about what affected them during their semester of chemistry study and efforts by the chemistry department to increase the quality of teaching. The departmental focus has been on selecting the best available literature and level of content, favourable schedule, choosing appropriate laboratory activities and tutorials, while students primarily focus on teacher attitude, atmosphere, and other soft values. It is tempting, in conclusion, to speculate that university teachers should consider those aspects of student learning as of equal importance to course features already considered. Acknowledgements The author wishes to thank Professor Henry Heikkinen for extensive comments on the manuscript. I also would like to thank Professor Johan Lithner, Professor Lisbeth Lundahl, and Professor Lars-Olof hman for valuable discussions. The author is indebted to Dr Norman Reid for valuable discussions about the attitude instrument. Feedback from two anonymous reviewers and the editors was also appreciated. This work was supported by grants from the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education. References
Berg C.A.R., Bergendahl V.C.B., Lundberg B.K.S. and Tibell L.A.E., (2003), Benefiting from an open-ended experiment? A comparison of attitudes to, and outcomes of, an expository versus an open-inquiry version of the same experiment, International Journal of Science Education, 25, 351-372. Buehl M.M. and Alexander P.A., (2001), Beliefs about academic knowledge. Educational Psychology Review, 13, 385-418. Coll R.K., Dalgety J. and Salter D., (2002), The development of the chemistry attitudes and experiences questionnaire (CAEQ), Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 3, 19-32. Covington M.V., (2000), Goal theory, motivation, and school achievement: An integrative review, Annual Review of Psychology, 51, 171-200.
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Dalgety J. and Coll R.K., (2003), Students' perceptions and learning experiences of tertiary level chemistry, Annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (p. 27), Philadelphia. Dalgety J., Coll R.K. and Jones A., (2003), Development of chemistry attitudes and experiences questionnaire (CAEQ), Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 40, 649-668. Eriksson L., Johansson E., Kettaneh-Wold N. and Wold S., (2001), Multi- and megavariate data analysis, principles and applications, Umetrics. Finster D.C., (1991), Developmental instruction: Part II. Application of the Perry model to general chemistry, Journal of Chemical Education, 68, 752-756. Fitch P. and Culver R.S., (1984), Educational activities to stimulate intellectual development in Perry's scheme, Paper presented at the 1984 ASEE Annual conference. Henderleiter J. and Pringle D.L., (1999), Effects of context-based laboratory experiments on attitudes of analytical chemistry students, Journal of Chemical Education, 76, 100-106. Hofer B.K., (2001), Personal epistemology research: Implications for learning and teaching, Journal of Educational Psychology Review, 13, 353-383. Hofer B.K., (2004), Exploring the dimensions of personal epistemology in differing classroom contexts: Student interpretations during the first year of college, Contemporary Educational Psychology, 29, 129-163. Hofer B.K. and Pintrich P.R., (1997), The development of epistemological theories: Beliefs about knowledge and knowing and their relation to learning, Review of Educational Research, 67, 88140. Jackson J.E., (1991), A user's guide to principal components, John Wiley, New York. Mackenzie A.M., Johnstone A.H. and Brown R.I.F., (2003), Learning from problem based learning, University Chemistry Education, 7, 1-14. Moore W.S., (1994), Student and faculty epistemology in the college classroom: The Perry schema of intellectual and ethical development, In K. W. Prichard and R. M. Sawyer (Eds.), Handbook of college teaching theory and applications (pp. 46-67), Greenwood, Westport. Osborne J., Simon S. and Collins S., (2003), Attitudes towards science: a review of the literature and its implications, International Journal of Science Education, 25, 1049-1079. Paulsen M.B. and Wells C.T., (1998), Domain differences in the epistemological beliefs of college students, Research in Higher Education, 39, 365-384. Perry W.G., (1970), Forms of intellectual and ethical development in the college years: A scheme, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York. Pintrich P.R., (1994), Student motivation in the college classroom, In K.W. Prichard & R.M. Sawyer (Eds.), Handbook of college teaching theory and applications (pp. 23-43), Greenwood, Westport. Ramsden P. and Entwistle N.J., (1981), Effects of academic departments on students' approaches to studying, British Journal of Educational Psychology, 51, 368-383. Reid N., (2003), Getting started in pedagogical research in the physical sciences, LTSN Physical Sciences Centre, Hull. Schraw G., (2001), Current themes and future directions in epistemological research: A commentary, Educational Psychology Review, 13, 451-464. Skou C.V., (2001), Qualitative media analyser - software for the 21st century (Version 1.0.1.2), Skou Carl Verner, CVS Information System. Swedish Higher Education Act (1992), Chapter 1, Section 9. Winberg M. and Berg C.A.R., (2004), Student attitudes toward learning and pre-lab simulated acidbase titrations: Effects on, cognitive focus, and knowledge usability, Unpublished manuscript, Ume.
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Appendix 1: Epistemological beliefs, motivation, and learning The present study focuses on attitude towards learning, where knowledge is central, and is thus closely related to research into personal epistemological beliefs. Epistemology concerns the nature and justification of human knowledge, while epistemological beliefs denote the theories and beliefs they hold about knowing, and the manner in which such epistemological premises are a part of and an influence on the cognitive processes of thinking and reasoning (Hofer et al., 1997). An example: The way a student approaches and views laboratory activity is affected by the students epistemological belief. A view, that knowledge is a set of accumulated facts and the student a receptor of knowledge, may create a view of laboratory activity as an illustration of facts and learning of procedures. A view that knowledge is an integrated set of constructs and the student constructs knowledge may, on the other hand, stimulate a view of laboratory activity as a situation where knowledge is generated and the student is learning not only procedures, but also scientific methods. Beuhl and Alexander (2001) present a model illustrating the multilayered nature of epistemological beliefs, with domain-specific beliefs as part of a full epistemological belief system (Figure 3). The focus of the present study is on the domain-specific beliefs as reflected in views of knowledge, perception of roles of instructor and student, assessment and laboratory activity. Figure 3. Model of an epistemological belief system (Buehl et al., 2001). General Epistemological Beliefs Academic Epistemological Beliefs
Domain-Specific Beliefs
What causes changes in epistemological position? In the field of research on epistemological beliefs there is consensus about a trend toward developmental progression, particularly for those who experience a college education (Hofer et al., 1997). However, there is less agreement on what causes this change; this has been suggested for further research by several writers (Hofer et al., 1997; Paulsen et al., 1998; Buehl et al., 2001; Hofer, 2001; Schraw, 2001; Osborne et al., 2003). For example, Hofer argues: Regardless of the model, there has been a presumption of all those working in this area that educational experiences play a role in fostering development or belief change. But what types of experiences are most conducive? What instructional strategies can best be employed? Although the literature is replete with advice, less research exists that clarifies the relation between methods and types of instruction and personal epistemology. (Hofer, 2001, p. 372). The present study addresses this question of what experiences and what instructional strategies fosters development and belief change? raised by Hofer. The instructor respect
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described in the discussion and the suggested educational implications found in Table 5 are a partial answer for this question, in university chemistry setting. Relations between epistemological beliefs, motivation and learning The relationships among epistemological beliefs, motivation, and learning are important, especially in real educational settings, and it has been shown that epistemological beliefs affect motivation as well as the quality of learning (Hofer et al., 1997; Paulsen et al., 1998; Hofer, 2001). The importance of epistemological beliefs for student learning and motivation has been described in a working model by Hofer (2001), where epistemological beliefs affect student motivation and strategy selection, which then, separately and in conjunction, affect learning. In the present study, a more positive attitude towards learning has been accompanied by more motivated behaviour. This could be seen as confirmation of the model described by Hofer, even if attitude, as viewed in this study, is broader than epistemological belief since it includes views of knowledge, instructor and student roles, laboratory activities, and assessment. Appendix 2: Educational setting and students attitudes The effect of educational setting upon student attitudes is of major interest to teachers and researchers. This interest could be captured by this fundamental question. Is there a (positive) effect of efforts to create classroom environments suitable for good learning? Attempts to answer this question have been made by studying many students in diverse educational settings and applying statistical analyses to characterize relationships (e.g. Ramsden et al., 1981). In their study Ramsden and Entwistle found a profound effect of the educational setting upon the orientation and study approaches of students. Another approach has been to investigate, with a smaller sample of students, how students adapt to different educational settings (Hofer, 2004). This study showed that first-year college students view knowledge in science as more certain and unchanging than they do in psychology. Both studies indicate the importance of educational setting and subject in developing students attitudes towards learning. In the present study a third approach was used, studying the students with major attitude changes in one educational setting. It was found that essentially the same factors in the educational setting had affected students with negative and positive attitude shifts. Even though the same factors had affected students the balance in experiences was very different. Students showing positive attitude shift exhibited few negative views of factors in the educational setting, tilting the balance favourably, while students with negative attitude shifts show the opposite pattern. More detailed information about factors in the educational setting and their effect is presented in the results and discussion sections of the article.
Textbooks and teachers understanding of acid-base models used in chemistry teaching

Michal Drechsler* and Hans-Jrgen Schmidt Karlstad University, Department of Chemistry, Universitetsgatan 1, SE- 651 88 Karlstad, Sweden. e-mail: michal.drechsler@kau.se
Received 29 April 2004, accepted 7 January 2005
Abstract: Acid-base reactions can be described in several ways: by formula equations as reactions between substances, or by ionic equations as proton transfer reactions according to Brnsteds model. Both models are introduced in chemistry teaching at Swedish secondary schools. The aim of this study was to determine how textbooks and teachers handle the different models to explain acid-base reactions. First, chemistry textbooks most widely used in Swedish upper secondary schools were examined. Second, semi-structured interviews were conducted with six chemistry teachers. The textbooks neither described the differences between the models used to explain acid-base reactions nor clarified why the Brnsted model was introduced. Teachers were well aware of the importance of using models in their lessons. However, they seemed to have difficulties in applying this view with respect to acids and bases. There was no clear distinction between the models, some teachers had even not reflected on the differences between them. They seemed to rely on the content of chemistry textbooks. Implications for textbook writers, teachers and further research are discussed. [Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 2005, 6 (1), 19-35]
Keywords: ionic equation; acidbase reaction; Brnsted model; Arrhenius model; textbook
analysis; models in teaching.
Introduction Studying science involves understanding the concepts that shape science. For teachers it is important to know how students interpret these concepts. Schmidt and Volke (2003) distinguished between the label/term and the content/meaning of a concept. Concepts that have a different meaning in science and in everyday life can confuse students (Pines and West, 1986). This can also happen with scientific terms that are used in different contexts because they have shifted their meaning in the course of the historical development (Schmidt, 1997). The concept oxidation is an example thereof. It can be defined with reference to the gain of oxygen (atoms) or to the loss of electrons. Here the content/meaning of the term is related to different models. Boulter and Gilbert (2000) considered it important for students to learn about models and their use but also to recognize their limitations. This would allow students to gain a better understanding of the subject and of how scientific knowledge is achieved. Nuffield Chemistry claims: Pupils must learn to see the interplay between observed fact and explanation and to appreciate how science develops through this interplay (Nuffield Foundation, 1968, p. 5), Science education research should, therefore, provide teachers with information that can be used to overcome students problems in this process.
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Models link theories with phenomena, they are part of theories scientists develop to explain phenomena that can be observed. Models used in chemistry can be both mental and more tangible instruments, such as ball and stick models, schematic pictures, diagrams or mathematical formulas. Each model emphasizes a specific part of the target only (Harrison and Treagust, 1998). A model should have the following characteristics (Van Driel and Verloop, 1999): A model is always related to a target that is represented by the model. A model is a research tool that is used to obtain information about a target that cannot be observed or measured directly. A model bears certain analogies to the target, which enables the researcher to derive hypotheses from the model, which may be tested while studying the target. A model is kept as simple as possible by deliberately excluding some aspects of the target. A model is developed through an interactive process in which empirical data from the target may lead to a revision of the model. This study concentrates on different models used to explain acids and bases and how teachers and textbooks handle these models. Background Scientific background The concepts of acids and bases belong to the basic principles of chemistry curricula. The way acids and bases have been explained has changed during the development of chemistry. New models are introduced trying to give a better description of reality. The alchemists defined acids on the basis of their sour taste. The way acids were explained developed stepwise until 1810 when Davy proposed that all acids contained hydrogen. The bases were still seen as neutralizers of acids, but a common composition was not known. At the end of the 19th century Arrhenius introduced the dissociation theory, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1903 (Arrhenius, 1903). He connected the acidic properties to positively charged hydrogen ions. Acids were defined as substances that produced H+ ions in water solution. Bases were defined analogously as substances that produced OH- ions. Using the Arrhenius model, bases are limited to substances that contain OH groups. The Arrhenius model is also limited to water as a solvent. In the reaction between an acid and a base water is formed and as a by-product a salt. A reaction between hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide can be formulated like this (Arrhenius, 1903): (1) (H+ + Cl-) + (Na+ + OH-) (Na+ + Cl-) + HOH or simplified: (2) H+ + OH- HOH In 1923, Brnsted (and at about the same time Lowry) suggested a more general acidbase definition. According to Brnsted, acids and bases are particles (molecules or ions). Acids are defined as particles that donate protons while bases are defined as particles that accept protons. Acids and bases exist side by side. Brnsteds acid-base definition is not limited to water as a solvent. When an acid donates a proton it becomes a base. If, for example, the acid HA donates a proton, the base A- remains. If the base B- accepts a proton, the acid HB is formed. An acid and a base connected in this way are said to be a conjugated acid-base pair. A proton transfer according to Brnsteds model can be written like this:
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(3) acid1 + base2 base1 + acid2 or: (4) HA + B- A- + HB To explain the basic properties of ammonia using the Arrhenius model, the existence of NH4OH (although it does not exist) is assumed as an intermediate. It is formed in a reaction between water and ammonia: (5) NH3 + H2O NH4OH In a second step NH4OH dissociates producing OH- ions: (6) NH4OH NH4+ + OHA better explanation of the basic properties of ammonia in water can be given using Brnsteds model. Equation (7) illustrates how in an equilibrium reaction ammonia molecules accept protons from water molecules forming hydroxide ions: (7) NH3 + H2O NH4+ + OHEquations 1 and 2 suggest that acids and bases consume each other. A reaction between equivalent amounts of an acid and a base should, therefore, always result in a neutral solution. This is, however, not always true. If equivalent amounts of a weak Arrhenius-acid, e.g. acetic acid, react with a strong Arrhenius-base, e.g. sodium hydroxide, the resulting solution will be basic. This phenomenon can be attributed to the following proton transfer reaction (8), in which acetate ions and water molecules are in equilibrium with hydroxide ions and acetic acid molecules. (8) AcO- + H2O OH- + HOAc Brnsteds proton transfer definition can be seen as a special case of the more general Lewis definition, where acids are defined as electron pair acceptors and bases as electron pair donators. In 1954 Gutman and Lindqvist (Hgg, 1963) suggested another acid-base definition, in which the transfer of ions is emphasized. An acid is defined as a cation donor/anion acceptor and a base as a cation acceptor/anion donor. Here the Brnsted model can be seen as a special case, too, namely the transfer of cations in the form of protons. Research literature Previous research in science education shows how students (and teachers) struggle to understand the role of models in general as well as in chemistry to describe acid-base reactions. Justi and Gilbert (1999, 2000) reported that teachers used hybrid models instead of specific historical models in their teaching. Hybrid models result from a transfer of attributes from one model to another one. The authors also showed that many chemistry textbooks do not discuss why scientists use different models. Rayner-Canham (1994) stated that students must be clearly informed about the benefits of introducing a more complex model. Hawkes (1992) observed that the Arrhenius acid-base model confused students. When asked to use the Brnsted model, which applies to a variety of bases, students thinking was still dominated by the Arrhenius model, in which only OH- ion-producing substances are considered as bases. The author suggested that the Brnsted model should be introduced first, and that the Arrhenius model should only be used as a historical footnote. Demerouti et al. (2004) reported that students from upper secondary school were more familiar with the Arrhenius model; they did not use the Brnsted model to explain the properties of acids and bases.
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Schmidt (1991) showed that students had difficulties understanding the concept of neutralization. Many students believed that any neutralization reaction would always result in a neutral solution. He attributed part of this difficulty to the ambiguous use of the term neutral in ordinary language and in the chemical context. Schmidt and Volke (2003) identified the mechanism students used to interpret the reaction from NO3- to NO in (9): (9) 3Cu + 2NO3- + 8H3O+ 3Cu 2+ + 2NO + 12H2O First, oxide ions are released second these ions react with H3O+ forming water according to , (10) and (11): (10) NO3- + 3 e- NO + 2 O2(11) 2 O2- + 4 H3O+ 6 H2O In doing so students combined the redox reaction (10) with the acid-base reaction (11). Schmidt and Volke also found that students had problems accepting water as a base. Carrs (1984) study of chemistry textbooks showed that the books did not clearly distinguish between the Arrhenius and the Brnsted acid-base models. No explanation was provided why a new model was introduced and how a new model differs from the previous one. Oversby (2000) identified in a survey chemistry textbooks that explained different acid-base models but did not discuss the strengths and limitations of each model. de Vos and Pilot (2001) studied the past and the present of the chemistry curriculum in the Netherlands. Several layers (or contexts) of knowledge were identified that had been added to the curriculum in the course of the historical development. The authors showed that in many modern textbooks these layers are not well connected and sometimes inconsistent with each other. As a result chemistry teachers and students are confronted with incoherent acid-base models that are difficult to teach and to learn. Aim Acids can take part in acid-base reactions and in redox reactions. Several models are in use to describe both types of reactions. The aim of the present study was to determine how chemistry textbooks and chemistry teachers handle different models used in schools to explain acid-base reactions. Data were collected by analyzing chemistry textbooks and interviewing chemistry teachers, having the following specific questions in mind: How do Swedish upper secondary school textbooks and chemistry teachers introduce the acid-base concept present the neutralization reaction/acid-base reactions treat chemistry models in general treat models in the context of acids and bases Method The research process involved several steps. In order to define the area in which students problems should be studied, multiple choice tests from Examination Boards in the US and the UK, dealing with acid-base reactions, were studied. In the next step chemistry textbooks commonly used in Swedish upper secondary schools were analyzed to see how they treat acid-base reactions. Interviews were then conducted with six upper secondary school chemistry teachers about how they introduce and present acid-base reactions, and how they use chemistry models in general and in the context of acids and bases.
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Analysis of multiple choice tests from Examination Boards Examination board tests can be seen as a collection of questions based on practitioners statements about what students should know. Examination board questions in the form of multiple choice questions show in addition, which alternatives to a correct answer are especially attractive to students. If a student based his or her reasoning on an alternative interpretation of a concept, he or she will arrive at a certain incorrect answer. If, therefore, multiple choice items are correctly constructed, the incorrect answers (distractors) may hint at problems students have in understanding chemistry concepts (Schmidt, 1991). Based on these reflections we analyzed the results of examination board tests to readjust the research questions. Examination boards usually do not publish exam questions and test results. However, several boards in the United Kingdom and the United States provided us, for research purposes, with test items and in some cases with the test statistics, i.e., the distribution of students answers against the options (answer pattern), too. The multiple choice questions were stored in a computer file. Using a computer program about 500 questions dealing with acids and bases were selected from the item bank. The analysis of these items led to a few multiple choice items that asked simple questions, had an interesting answer pattern and contained some interesting incorrect answers. Three such questions are given as examples. Item 1: Students were asked to identify the reaction equation that would describe best the reaction between dilute hydrochloric acid and aqueous sodium hydroxide. The correct answer was H+ + OH- H2O. The students preferred the following incorrect answers: Na+ + Cl- NaCl Na+ + Cl- + H+ + OH- NaCl + H2O Item 2: Students were given the following information NH3 (g) + H2O (l) NH4+ (aq) + OH- (aq) A. NH3 reacts as a proton acceptor B. H2O reacts as an acid C. OH- reacts as a base The student should chose among options that described the above statements as true. The majority of the students avoided all answer options where water was described as an acid. Item 3: Students were asked to identify how nitric acid acts in the reaction with copper. A reaction equation was not given. Many students chose the option as an acid. We interpreted the results of the analysis of the examination board questions as follows. Item 1. Students preferred reaction equations that name salt or water as a product of an acid-base reaction. These students seemed to prefer the Arrhenius model to explain acidbase reactions. Item 2. Students did not accept water as an acid or a base. These students did not consider Brnsteds proton transfer model to explain acid-base reactions. Item 3. Students had not realized that in this case nitric acid acts does not act as an acid only, but as an oxidizing agent, too. It was decided to use items 1 and 2 in the interviews with the chemistry teachers asking them to comment on the examination results.
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Analysis of chemistry textbooks In Sweden the acid-base concept is introduced at lower secondary level (ages 14-16) and further developed at upper secondary level (ages 17-19). At lower secondary level chemistry is taught with reference to phenomena. Reactants and products of chemical reactions are considered as substances, reaction equations written as formula equations. (12) Acid + Base Salt + Water The formula equation can be seen as a simplified version a curricular model of the historical Arrhenius acid-base model. When students move from lower to upper secondary school which are separate schools in Sweden Brnsteds acid-base model is introduced. The Lewis model and other more advanced acid-base models are not taught in upper secondary schools. The scope of the Swedish introductory course for upper secondary schools has recently been reduced. One of the main changes was that the chapter on chemical equilibrium was moved to the advanced course. To find answers to the research questions the following four chemistry textbooks for upper secondary schools were analyzed: Andersson, Sonesson, Stlhandske, and Tullberg (2000), Born, Larsson, Lif, Lilleborg, and Lindh (2000), Henriksson (2000), and Pilstrm, Wahlstrm, Lning, and Viklund (2000). The final report was planned as a collection of stories in the sense used by Kvale (1996). He described the qualitative researcher as a traveler to a foreign country telling stories when returning home (Kvale, 1996, p.4). To find the information needed the acid-base chapters of the books were analyzed about how they introduce and present the following concepts: acid/ base pH acid-base reaction redox reaction neutralization salt acid-base models/theories Brnsteds model/ theory All reaction equations of the acid-base chapters were categorized with respect to the model they refer to: Arrhenius model Brnsteds model hybrid between the two redox model The introductions to all books were read in order to see how they present chemistry models in general. For the same reason the contents of the books were searched via their indexes. Interviews with chemistry teachers Instead of drawing the teachers at random from a larger population, the interviewer (M.D.) invited six former colleagues who were known to have an interest in reflecting on and discussing teaching matters. This strategy has been discussed by Miles and Huberman (1994, p.268). All teachers had participated in evening lectures at the university in which results from research in chemistry education were presented. They were between 35 and 60 years old, all had at least 8 years of teaching experience and were teaching at four different upper secondary schools. Five of the teachers had masters degrees. All of them used (like most
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other chemistry teachers in the area) Anderssons chemistry textbook (Andersson et al., 2000). Semi-structured interviews were designed according to Kvale (1996). They consisted of three distinct phases: the briefing and warm up phase at the beginning, the main phase, and the debriefing phase at the end. Briefing and debriefing were not tape-recorded. In the briefing phase the interviewer explained the purpose and the procedure of the interview (duration, use of audio recorder etc.). The teachers were asked for permission to use the tape recordings for research purposes and were assured about their right to withdraw from the interview at any time. In the warm up phase certain parts of the chemistry curriculum the teachers liked and disliked were discussed. Teachers were also asked about how they tackled these parts. In the main phase answers to the research questions were sought. Teachers were asked about how they introduced and presented the acid-base concept. It was discussed how they handled chemistry models in general and in the context of acids and bases. Teachers were also invited to comment on the textbooks. Finally, they were shown the first two of the multiple choice questions presented above and the test results from the examination boards to initiate a discussion about problems students may have to understand the chemistry of acids and bases. During the debriefing phase, the research project was described more in detail. Teachers were given the opportunity to comment both on the content and the procedure of the interview. Teachers were again informed about their right to withdraw the permission to use the tape recordings for research purposes. The interview guide is presented in Appendix 1. The interviews were transcribed in full. From the transcripts summaries of four pages per interview were written. The transcripts of the interviews and the summaries were read by both authors. They were first analyzed using a provisional list of categories that emerged naturally from the research questions and the interview guide (Miles and Huberman, 1994, p. 58). However, the interviews performed were semi-structured. This means that on the one side the questions used in the interviews were predetermined. On the other side the interviews were open for teachers unexpected ideas, too. Therefore, some interview questions were added after the second and the fourth interview had been completed. The results of the interviews are presented in the form of eight stories in the sense of Kvale (1996). Each story is given a specific headline (see the Result and Discussion section). Results and discussion Analysis of chemistry textbooks The following stories resulting from the textbook analysis consist of summaries followed by examples and discussions. How textbooks introduce the acid-base concept The book by Pilstrm (2000) introduces the acid-base concepts by defining acidic, basic and neutral solutions using the pH scale and indicators. Next, the book lists different acids and shows that all acids contain hydrogen. The Brnsted proton transfer reaction of acids in water is shown, followed by reactions of acids with non-precious metals. The book by Born et al. (2000) introduces acids and bases by showing that all acids contain hydrogen. Several examples are given. Acid-base reactions according to Brnsted and redox reactions of acids with non-precious metals are discussed simultaneously. The books by Henriksson (2000) and Andersson et al. (2000) introduce acid-base chemistry by listing the properties of acids such as their sour taste and their reactions with non-precious metals. All books define bases according to Brnsted after the concept of acid was introduced. Bases and acids are, however,
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listed as substances. The books by Pilstrm et al. (2000) and Henriksson (2000) use both, the terms bases as well as basic substances.
Excerpt 1. Acid-base reactions and redox reactions of acids (Henriksson, 2000, p. 161). Reaction with carbonate CaCO3(s) + 2H3O+(aq) + 2Cl-(aq) Ca2+(aq) + CO2(g) + 3H2O(l) + 2Cl-(aq) After simplification CaCO3(s) + 2H+(aq) Ca2+(aq) + CO2(g) + H2O(l) Reaction with non-precious metal Mg(s) + 2H3O+(aq) + 2Cl-(aq) Mg2+(aq) + H2(g) + 2H2O(l) + 2Cl-(aq) After simplification Mg(s) + 2H+(aq) Mg2+(aq) + H2(g)
The problems that arise when introducing the acid-base concept are manifold. No hints are given in the books that models are used to characterize acids and bases and to understand their properties. The readership is not informed that different models are used in parallel and why. The texts are not always clear about the model that is being used in a certain situation. Another misgiving arises from the formulation of the reaction equations. There is a difference between formula and ionic equations. Formula equations identify the substances that are involved when, for example, hydrochloric acid and calcium carbonate (13) or hydrochloric acid and magnesium (14) react with each other. Excerpt 1 refers to these reactions. (13) CaCO3(s) + 2HCl(aq) CaCl2 (aq) + CO2(g) + H2O(l) (14) Mg(s) + 2HCl(aq) MgCl2(aq) + H2(g) Ionic equations name the particles that are involved in a reaction. Spectator ions are of no interest. The following equations (15) and (16) refer to the same reactions as (13) and (14). (15) CO32-(aq) + 2H3O+(aq) CO2(g) + 3H2O(l) or (15a) CO32-(aq) + 2H+(aq) CO2(g) + H2O(l) (16) Mg(s) + 2 H3O+(aq) Mg2+(aq) + H2(g) + 2H2O(l) or (16a) Mg(s) + 2H+(aq) Mg2+(aq) + H2(g) Equation (15) illustrates how a proton transfer reaction between hydrogen ions and carbonate ions according to Brnsted takes place. Equation (15a) is a simplified version of (15). It will, however, not be easy to identify the proton transfer reaction that is mentioned in excerpt 1. Maybe the authors wanted to make the equations for acid-base and redox reactions as similar as possible How textbooks present the neutralization reaction Having discussed the concepts acids and bases, the books Andersson et al. (2000) and Henriksson (2000) explain the term neutralization. Henriksson (2000) informs the reader that this is a reaction in which H3O+ and OH- ions disappear. Andersson et al. (2000) describe the neutralization as a water producing reaction. The authors mention, however, the formation of a salt, too. Born et al. (2000) and Pilstrm et al. (2000) describe the neutralization reaction as a way to produce salts.
Excerpt 2. Reaction between sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid (Andersson et al. 2000 p. 112). Na+ + OH- + H3O+ + Cl- 2H2O + Na+ + ClH+
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We can see that the ions Na+ and Cl- do not participate in the reaction. They are called counter ions or spectator ions. Thus only the following reaction takes place. OH- + H3O+ H2O + H2O
base acid
The reaction between an acid and a base is called neutralization. A salt is formed. Excerpt 3. Neutralization reaction (Born et al., 2000, p. 90) In a neutralization reaction a salt solution is produced If you neutralize e.g. sulfuric acid with a solution of potassium hydroxide, a potassium sulfate solution is obtained.
All textbooks claim that they use Brnsteds model to explain acid-base reactions. For Brnsted the neutralization reaction is a proton transfer between an acid and a base forming water (if water is used as solvent). The ionic equation (17) describes this aspect of the reaction properly. (17) H3O+(aq) + OH-(aq) H2O(l) + H2O(l) A formula equation like (18) is, however, needed to illustrate that in a neutralization reaction a salt is formed, too. (18) HCl(aq) + NaOH(aq) NaCl(aq) + H2O(l) All textbooks analyzed state that in a neutralization reaction an acid and a base consume each other. This is what the formula equation (18) tells us. However, in Brnsted reactions acids and bases never disappear. An acid reacts with a base forming another acid and another base see equations (3) and (17). Two distinct models are needed to describe the different aspects of the reaction, but we found no discussion of that in the textbooks. How textbooks use chemistry models in general One of the books only describes the term model in the introduction. The book by Pilstrm et al. (2000) informs the reader that models are required to explain phenomena at the particle level. They are tools needed to work with what one cannot see. Henriksson (2000) does not mention the term model in the introduction, but describes how, by inventing and testing a hypothesis, chemists produce new knowledge. All textbooks present pictures of ball-and-stick molecular models. In this context the term model is named, but not discussed. In three books the term model is mentioned in connection with atomic models. Only two of the books, however, namely Pilstrm et al. (2000) and Henriksson (2000), really explain how these models can be used. In the book by Andersson et al. (2000) the term model is mentioned in this context, but not explained. How textbooks use models in the context of acids and bases The book by Pilstrm is the only one describing the history of the acid-base models (Pilstrm et al., 2000, p. 204). The other books do not mention the different models.
Excerpt 4. Acid-base reactions (Pilstrm et al., 2000). When gaseous ammonia is dissolved in water, some of the ammonia molecules will react as follows: NH3 + H2O NH4+ + OH- (p. 55). H+
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If you mix hydrochloric acid with a solution of sodium hydroxide, the hydrogen ions react with the hydroxide ions in the hydroxide solution according to the equation H+ + OH- H2O (p. 56).
Although in the book by Pilstrm et al. (2000) several acid-base models are mentioned, the authors are not clear about which model they refer to at a certain moment in the text. All the books analyzed, describe the Brnsted model as if no previous models existed. Interviews with chemistry teachers The following stories resulting from the interviews consist of short summaries from the transcripts, followed by excerpts from the interviews and discussions of the results. In the excerpts the interviewer is indexed I while the teachers are indexed T1, T2 ... T6. The parts of the curriculum the teachers liked and disliked The teachers named various parts of the curriculum as their favorites: stoichiometry, physical chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, or redox chemistry. However, they had two reasons only for their preferences: teachers felt (1) they were knowledgeable in the particular field, or (2) they could easily connect that part of the curriculum to situations in everyday life.
T5. During my chemistry studies I concentrated on analytical and physical chemistry so I guess thats why I especially like physical chemistry. Its because I know it so well. T4. I usually ask the students what they think about my teaching and they say that everyday applications are very important.
The parts of the curriculum the teachers did not like to teach were: electrochemistry (two teachers), biochemistry (two teachers), organic chemistry (one teacher) and acid-base chemistry (one teacher). Teachers had two reasons for their misgivings: they felt these parts of the curriculum were (1) too abstract and difficult, or (2) too easy, students would not profit from them.
T4. Electrochemistry. Students think its very difficult and abstract. They also tend to confuse galvanic cells and electrolysis. This part is very theoretical and the demonstrations are difficult for students to understand. T1. The acid-base part has become superficial. Its what you have already done at the lower secondary school, and you dont get any further or deeper. There are a couple of pages with properties of some acids and what will dissolve in them, general chemistry, only whats happening and no explanations why. Students dont see this as knowledge, just as a lot of facts. You dont get much out of it.
The strategies teachers used were the same for all parts of the curriculum and did not depend on their preferences. Teachers attitudes and expectations towards teaching acid-base chemistry Five teachers enjoyed teaching acid-base chemistry and felt that students would understand this part of the curriculum easily. One teacher said that teaching acids and bases at upper secondary level would repeat what has already been taught at lower secondary level. The teachers expected their students to have problems only with understanding stoichiometric calculations, logarithms (pH) and buffer solutions.
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T6. This part is easy to teach, students already know a lot. They want to know moree.g., calculate the pH of weak acids. I. What do you think are the main difficulties for students in this part? T2. Its logarithms, because they dont know enough math yet. Then you have to explain it, and since Im also a math teacher I know some ways to explain it 2-3 ways, but its 10-pH, whats p, whats log, is pH a concentration? I. You think that the students problems are mostly mathematical? T2. Yes, and then we have concentrations. Students must distinguish between HCl and H2SO4 and also mole proportions.
None of the teachers were aware that students could have difficulties in applying formula and ionic equations to acid-base reactions and to understand the related acid-base models. How teachers introduced acid-base reactions Four teachers introduced the acid-base concept listing acids and bases that students know from everyday life. Writing chemical formulae students were expected to see that all acids contained hydrogen. Acids were then defined as substances that when dissolved in water produced hydrogen ions. Later, pH values of acidic solutions were determined and related to the concentrations of hydrogen ions. Two teachers introduced the acid-base concept measuring the pH of various acidic solutions. Students were told the pH to be a measure of the hydrogen ion concentration. Similar experiments were conducted with basic solutions.
T4. I always start from everyday life. What is an acid and what is a base? We show them, so the students can smell, feel and taste. Then you can go on and apply this to the human body. What will happen if this gets into our body? Which are more dangerous, acids or bases? Thats how I introduce it.
All teachers defined acids and bases as particles taking part in proton transfer reactions. However, they showed students substances as examples for acids and bases. How teachers presented the neutralization reaction All teachers discussed with their students the neutralization reaction. Strong acids were titrated with strong bases as a laboratory experiment. All teachers emphasized that in this reaction water and salt were formed. Three teachers demonstrated in comparison titrations with weak acids or bases, too. However, the focus was still on the formation of salt.
T3. The students perform the titrations with strong acids and bases themselves. Then I demonstrate a titration of a weak acid. I. How do you compare the results? Do you draw titration curves? T3. No, not in the introduction course. We just look at the formation of salt and water of course.
All teachers claimed that they used in class the Brnsted model to interpret acid-base reactions. Discussing the neutralization reaction, however, they referred to reaction equation (12). How teachers used chemistry models in general All teachers agreed that it was important for students to know that chemistry deals with models. They admitted they had not discussed this aspect satisfactorily with their students.
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T1. I try to discuss models and why we use models with the students. Its difficult to make the student understand that we deal with models. They are inclined to believe we deal with the truth. T2. I try to explain the use of models right from the start. This is the model we use right now since we can understand it. Later on, when we know more physics and mathematics, we can move on to other models.
How teachers used models in the context of acid-base chemistry Teachers had difficulties applying their general view of models to acid-base reactions. In their view the Arrhenius and the Brnsted acid-base definitions did not count as models.
I. Can you give me examples of models you use? T2. Yes, Bohrs atomic model. I. Do you use models in the acid-base part as well? T2. Yes We use ball-and-stick molecule models sometimes.
In addition, teachers had difficulties to see the differences between the models.
T3. This about a proton, a hydrogen ion, and an oxonium ion. Not all students understand that its the same. T3. They have problems realizing that theres no reaction with sodium hydroxide in water. Its a queer element that it only dissolves as compared with ammonia. I. What do the students think about writing acid-base reaction equations? T5. That they learn quickly that water is formed in a neutralization reaction and a salt. I. But if you dissolve ammonia in water, you dont get water and salt. T5. No, thats protolysis in water. Water is the acid and isnt formed. I. Do you see this as a different model for explaining an acid-base reaction? T5. No I havent thought about it that way. Water cant be formed if it participates in the reaction as an acid or base.
The teachers were aware that the Brnsted and Lewis definitions of acids and bases are related to different models. These are the ones they will have met in their teacher training at University. This may be the reason why they did not recognize previous models. Teachers comments on the chemistry textbook All teachers used Anderssons textbook (Andersson et al., 2000). Two teachers used in addition examples from other textbooks, but the book by Andersson et al. (2000) was the main source for the students. Two teachers did not like how redox reactions of acids are presented and excluded these parts of the book from their lessons. Teachers felt that the textbook was simple and accessible. They said that their students appreciated the book highly because of the summaries in the margin. One teacher thought the textbook was so clear presenting acids and bases that he had used it as a self-study material for the students.
T2. If the students miss a lesson, they can easily read it themselves. Last year I asked them to read a chapter on their own. I chose the acid-base chapter since its relatively easy and the students at that point have been through a major part of the chemistry course. I think the book explains it well. T5. Students like the book. Its a good thing it has summaries in the margin.
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Since the teachers were not aware of the different acid-base models, they had not noticed that the textbook did not clearly distinguish between them. They perceived the book to be quite clear in this respect. Two of the teachers noticed that the book discussed acid-base reactions and redox reactions of acids simultaneously. Teachers comments on the multiple choice tests Teachers were surprised about students answers to the multiple choice questions. Two statements occurred repeatedly:
Item 1 T5. You focus on whats formed, not on what really happens. T1. You forget about the counter ions. You teach that in the beginning of the course but then you forget about it. Item 2 T4. Maybe you shouldnt emphasize that acids and bases are dangerous substances T3. The students should know that water is an ampholyte.
The discussion with teachers showed: they realized that students could have difficulties to understand what was taught in class.
T5. Ive never thought of it this way. It makes sense. Ill have to check the book more closely.
Teachers may have felt uncomfortable during the interview when their teaching was questioned (Kvale, 1996, p. 128). In order to minimize this tension, the interviewer explained that the research questions were developed from examination questions. The discussion of the results of the examination tests offered an opportunity to discuss students problems understanding acid-base chemistry in general. Teachers thus realized that other students had the same problems in this field. The discussion about the multiple choice items continued in the debriefing phase. General discussion Research has shown that textbooks play an important role for teachers planning a lesson. Tobin, Tippins, and Gallard (1994) reported that when planning science programs, teachers partitioned the years work into topics to be covered each term and subsequently planned the content to be covered each week and in each lesson (p. 51). It seems that for the teachers participating in the present study the chemistry textbook was an important source of information, too. In our study the analysis of the textbooks and the interviews revealed that the acid-base concepts presented by the books and by the teachers were the same. Acids and bases were introduced as substances. Later the Brnsted model was used. Most textbooks and all teachers mentioned the formation of salt when talking about the neutralization reaction. It is reasonable to introduce acids and bases at the phenomenological level as substances that consume each other. This interpretation of a neutralization reaction is properly described by formula equations. The Brnsted model, however, defines acids and bases as particles exchanging protons. This is properly interpreted by ionic equations. Research has shown that teachers were aware that different models exist but did not use them in their classes (Justi and Gilbert, 2002). The same was observed in the present study. The teachers were well aware of the importance of models but had difficulties to make use of
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them to explain the properties of acids and bases. Textbooks and teachers neither described the differences between the models nor clarified why the Brnsted model was introduced. Some teachers had not even commented on the differences between them. Most teachers claimed they taught the Brnsted model, but they also used previous models simultaneously. The interviews showed that teachers did not realize that their textbook did not clearly distinguish between Brnsteds and previous models. They may not have recognized older models because they only met the Brnsted and other modern acid-base models at university. We expect other researchers to arrive at similar results interviewing teachers in Sweden. There are two reasons for it: (1) What teachers told us during the interviews was similar to what was described in their textbook. This can easily be explained assuming that the textbook they relied upon had influenced the teachers. Our textbook analysis was based on books that are commonly used in Sweden. It is, therefore, reasonable to expect that the books will influence other teachers in the same way. (2) Teachers selected for the interviews were known to have an interest in reflecting on their teaching. The present study shows that even these teachers were not clear about the use of acid-base models. If these teachers did not think about the use of models this may apply even more to ordinary teachers. Perhaps the situation observed in Swedish schools can also be seen in other countries. The following observations may illustrate our expectations. One important goal of Nuffield Chemistry, the famous British curriculum development of the 1960s, was helping students to develop relationships between experimental results and explanations in terms of a model (Nuffield Foundation, 1968, p. 7). With respect to acid-base chemistry the Handbook for Teachers states: when pupils know how to represent what is going on at a molecular level (they) are then ready for a simple form of Lowry-Brnsted approach (Nuffield Foundation, 1969, p. 31). However, a more detailed analysis of this aspect is missing. In 1977 Keller, a well-known chemistry educator from Germany, published a book about models in chemistry teaching (Keller, 1977). Under the heading Models used in relation to chemical reactions, the Brnsted concept is mentioned (p. 33), but not discussed in detail. Finally, the observation that the textbooks failed to discuss the different models used to describe acid-base reactions is not intended to imply that the textbook authors are unaware of these models. In discussions the textbook authors gave a simple and valid argument for the chosen presentation of the acid-base concept: to simplify it and thereby facilitate learning. Implications for teaching and research The results of the present study emphasize the need for teachers and textbook authors to provide students with clear descriptions of the models that are used to explain the properties of acids and bases. They should help students to understand why at a certain point of the course the Brnsted model is introduced and how this model differs from the one that had been used before. In this context a distinction between formula and ionic equations has to be made. To identify some key points: Acids and bases are introduced as substances referring to students experience from everyday life. In an acid-base reaction acids and bases consume each other forming salt and water. Formula equation (18) describes the reaction between hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide properly at the phenomenological level. Brnsted defines acids and bases as particles. In an acid-base reaction an acid reacts with a base forming a new acid and a new base. The formation of salt (and water) is not a prerequisite of a Brnsted acid-base reaction. The ionic equation (17) illustrates what really
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happens in a neutralization reaction. However, (17) does not tell us which substances react with each other. Teachers should also expect their students to have difficulties classifying water as an acid or a base. In the reaction between ammonia and water, ammonia molecules accept protons from water molecules and, therefore, act as a base (7). Water molecules donate protons and act as an acid. In this Brnsted acid-base reaction neither a salt nor water is formed. Acids do not only react with bases, but also with (certain) metals. This phenomenon is often presented to students when introducing the concepts acid and base. The present study revealed that textbooks (and teachers) should clearly describe the differences between acidbase and redox reactions. Formula equation (14) refers to the reaction between hydrochloric acid and magnesium, naming all reactants and products. The same is true for equation (18) illustrating the reaction between hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide. It may be reasonable for upper secondary school courses to describe (14) as an electron-transfer reaction using the ionic equation (16), and (18) as a proton transfer reaction using the ionic equation (17). The recommendations mentioned here could be used in chemistry lessons helping students to gain an understanding of what it means to approach a problem scientifically, (Nuffield Foundation, 1968, p. 1). The teachers interviewed used their chemistry textbooks to prepare their lessons. They had, however, not noticed that their textbooks did not clearly distinguish between the different acid-base models used in school. Teachers should be more critical when reviewing textbooks. More research is needed for a better understanding of the role of acid-base models in teaching and learning. During the interviews teachers described how they taught acid-base chemistry. From the results, however, we do not know what really happened in the classroom. We also do not know how Swedish students apply their general view of models to other concepts in chemistry. Another interesting question to be answered is how students understand acid-base concepts and models and in what way they are influenced by chemistry textbooks. An investigation of this type is under way. A study that clarified whether the results of the present study are applicable to students in other countries is needed too. References
Andersson S., Sonesson A., Stlhandske B. and Tullberg A., (2000), Gymnasiekemi A., Liber, Stockholm. Arrhenius S., (1903), Development of the theory of electrolytic dissociation. Nobel Lecture, December 11, http://www.nobel.se/chemistry/laureates/1903/arrhenius-lecture.pdf. Born H., Larsson M., Lif T., Lilleborg S. and Lindh, B., (2000). Kemiboken A 100p, Liber, Stockholm. Boulter C. and Gilbert J.K., (2000), Challenges and opportunities of developing models in science education. In J.K. Gilbert and C. Boulter (Eds.), Developing models in science education (pp. 343-362). Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht. Carr M., (1984). Model confusion in chemistry, Research in Science Education, 14, 97-103. Demerouti, M., Kousathana M. and Tsaparlis G., (2004), Acid-base equilibria, Part 1: Upper secondary students misconceptions and difficulties. The Chemical Educator, 9, 122-131. de Vos W. and Pilot A., (2001), Acids and bases in layers: The stratal structure of an ancient topic,. Journal of Chemical Education, 78, 494-499. Harrison A.G. and Treagust D.F., (1998), Modelling in science lessons: Are there better ways to learn with models?, School Science and Mathematics, 98, 420-429. Hawkes S.J., (1992), Arrhenius confuses students, Journal of Chemical Education, 69, 542-543. Henriksson A., (2000), Kemi kurs A., Gleerups Frlag, Malm.
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Hgg G., (1963), Allmn och oorganisk kemi, Almqvist & Wiksell frlag AB, Stockholm. Justi R.S., (2000), Teaching with historical models. In J.K. Gilbert and C.J. Boulter (Eds.), Developing Models in Science Education, (pp. 209-226). Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht. Justi, R.S., and Gilbert, J. K. (1999), A cause of ahistorical science teaching: Use of hybrid models, Science Education, 83, 163-177. Justi R.S. and Gilbert J.K., (2000), History and philosophy of science through models: Some challenges in the case of The atom, International Journal of Science Education, 22, 993-1009. Justi R.S. and Gilbert J.K., (2002), Modelling, teachers views on the nature of modelling, and implications for the education of modellers, International Journal of Science Education, 24, 369387. Kvale S., (1996), InterViews, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks. Keller, G., (1977), ber das Denken in Modellen, Diesterweg, Frankfurt. Miles M.B., and Huberman A.M., (1994), Qualitative data analysis (2nd ed.), Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks. Nuffield Foundation (1968). Nuffield Chemistry, Introduction and Guide, Longmans, London. Nuffield Foundation (1969). Nuffield Chemistry, Handbook for Teachers. Longmans, London. Oversby J., (2000), Models in explanations of chemistry: the case of acidity. In J.K. Gilbert and C.J. Boulter (Eds.), Developing models in science education, (pp. 227-251), Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht. Pilstrm H., Wahlstrm E., Lning B. and Viklund G., (2000), Modell och Verklighet A. Natur och Kultur, Falkping. Pines L.A. and West L.H.T., (1986), Conceptual understanding and science learning: An interpretation of research within a sources-of-knowledge framework, Science Education, 70, 583604. Rayner-Canham G., (1994), Concepts of acids and bases. Journal of College Science Teaching, 23, 246-247. Schmidt H.-J., (1991), A label as a hidden persuader Chemists neutralization concept. International Journal of Science Education, 13, 459-471. Schmidt H.-J., (1997), Students' misconceptions Looking for a pattern, Science Education, 81, 123135. Schmidt H.-J. and Volke D., (2003), Shift of meaning and students' alternative concepts, International Journal of Science Education, 25, 1409-1424. Tobin K., Tippins D.J. and Gallard, A.J., (1994), Research on instructional strategies for teaching science, In L.D. Gabel (Ed.), Handbook of research on science teaching and learning (pp. 4570), Macmillan, New York. Van Driel J.H. and Verloop N., (1999), Teachers' knowledge of models and modelling in science, International Journal of Science Education, 21, 1141-1153.
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Appendix 1 Interview guide

Introduction o Presentation: About the interviewer and the research project o Permission to use tape recorder o Questions from interviewee; regarding the interview procedure Briefing o Teaching experience, years, and schools? o Favourite domain in chemistry ! Why is it your favourite? ! How do you introduce / teach it? ! What do students think about it? o Are there other domains you do not like to teach? ! Why do you dislike them? ! Are there any differences in the way you teach them compared to the one above? ! How do you introduce / teach them? ! Do you think the book is clear in this domain? ! What do students think about this domain? Main Phase o I would now want to talk about acids and bases. What is your opinion about this part? o Do you think it is easy to teach? o In your opinion, what problems do students have in understanding acids and bases? o How do you introduce acids and bases? ! Do you use Brnsteds definition? ! How do you move on? ! How do you explain acid-base reactions? ! How do you write equations? (acid + base salt + water; acid1 + base2 base1 + acid2) o o o o o o ! Do you see them as several models? Do you discuss the use of models in chemistry in general? Do you discuss the differences between acid-base reactions and redox reactions of acids? Which textbook do you use? Do you find it clear with respect to acids and bases? Do you have any experience from the previous chemistry courses and previous books? What is better now and has anything become worse? How does the book use and explain the use of models in chemistry? Presentation of multiple choice questions ! Explain the research project in detail. Our conclusions from the multiple choice questions. Discuss the different models related to acid-base chemistry.
Debriefing o I have no further questions. Questions from the interviewee, permission to use the recording, discuss some points of the interview.
Conceptual change achieved through a new teaching program on acids and bases
Gkhan Demirciolu*, Alipaa Ayas and Hlya Demirciolu KTU Fatih Education Faculty, Department of Secondary Science Education, Stl Mevkii, 61335, Akaabat/TRABZON, Turkey. e-mail: gdemir@ktu.edu.tr,
Received 26 May 2004, accepted 14 January 2005
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects on students achievement and misconceptions of new teaching material developed for the unit acids and bases. Also, the students attitudes towards chemistry were explored. The new material included worksheets based on the conceptual conflict strategy. The sample consisted of eighty-eight students. The research was carried out with an experimental/control group design, and lasted for four weeks. Two instruments The Concept Achievement Test and Chemistry Attitude Scale were used to collect data before and after the study as pre-tests and post-tests. The results from the post-tests indicated that the students in the experimental group, taught with the new teaching material, showed significantly greater achievement in the unit than did the students in the control group. In addition, the experimental group had a significantly higher score than the control group with regard to their attitudes toward chemistry. This shows that the implementation of the new material produced better results both in terms of achievement and attitudes. The students misconceptions in experimental group were less than the control group. [Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 2005, 6 (1), 36-51]
Keywords: new teaching material; chemistry education; conceptual conflict; conceptual change and misconceptions.
Introduction Research has indicated that students often construct their own theories about how the natural world works, prior to formal science education, but their theories are frequently contrary to those of scientists (Osborne et al., 1985). Students self-constructed conceptions have been referred to in the literature as misconceptions, alternative conceptions, preconceptions, naive conceptions etc (Driver et al., 1978; Krishnan et al., 1994; Demirciolu et al., 2001). Throughout this article, the term misconceptions has been used to refer to these ideas that are not in agreement with accepted scientific ideas. There are a variety of sources of misconceptions. These are: experiences encountered in daily life (Head, 1982), traditional instructional language (Bergquist et al., 1990), teachers, mismatches between teacher and student knowledge of science (Hodge, 1993), chemical terms that have changed their meaning (Schmidt, 1999; Schmidt et al., 2003) and textbooks (Stake et al., 1978). Misconceptions are resistant to change, persistent, and difficult to extinguish even with instruction designed to address them. Also, the misconceptions learners may hold generally hinder their subsequent learning (Ben-Zvi et al., 1986; de Vos et al., 1987; Haidar et al., 1991; de Posada, 1997). So, learners misconceptions should be taken into consideration in the developing of science curricula. Unfortunately, many of the current science curricula and textbooks have not addressed the persistence of any misconceptions. In the conventional curriculum development, curricula have been generally taken up as a whole and prepared by
Gkhan Demirciolu, Alipaa Ayas and Hlya Demirciolu
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central commissions, and teachers ideas have often been ignored. Kelly and Monger (1973) explored that, with this approach, the expected achievement level hasnt been reached. According to the constructivist view of learning, which is a relatively new approach in curriculum development in science, learners existing ideas are important to make sense of new experiences and new information (Wittrock, 1974; Hand et al., 1991; Duffy et al., 1991). In this model, it is suggested that learners construct their knowledge and concepts in the direction of their abilities and experiences (Osborne et al., 1983). This shows that each individuals learning style is different. For this reason, curriculum development has begun to be conducted for individual topics or concepts during the last three decades or so (Osborne et al., 1982; Osborne et al., 1985). Over the last three decades or so, various teaching models have been developed to change learners misconceptions into scientific conceptions. This type of studies has been phrased as conceptual change models (Posner et al., 1982). In general, conceptual change has been described as part of a learning mechanism that requires the learners to change their conceptions about a phenomenon or principle either through restructuring or integrating new information into their existing schemata (Hewson, 1996). The best-known conceptual change model has been that of Posner, Strike, Hewson, and Gertzog (1982), which describes the conditions of conceptual change. In this model, there are four steps: (1) learners must become dissatisfied with their existing conceptions; (2) the new conception must be intelligible; (3) the new conception must be plausible; and (4) the new conception must be fruitful. After these conditions have been met, students can experience conceptual change. It is important to create a learning environment in the classroom where students can make sense of science and use science to make sense of the world. The methods and strategies used in such an environment should guide students toward science. Based on conceptual change theory, cognitive conflict is known as an important factor in conceptual change (Posner et al., 1982; Hewson et al., 1984; Hewson et al., 1989; Niaz, 1995), even though there are still questions about its positive and negative effects on science. A cognitive conflict can be produced by a situation consisting of disequilibria that is, questions of felt lacunae that arise when the student attempts to apply existing schemas to a new situation (Mischel, 1971). Several researchers have shown that instruction based on conceptual change can be effective at changing students chemistry conceptions (Basili et al., 1991; Ebenezer et al., 1995). Hewson and Hewson (1983) employed a conceptual change approach to promote conceptual change in students regarding density, mass and volume concepts. This study showed that the use of instructional strategies taking students' misconceptions into account results in better acquisition of scientific conceptions. Basili and Sandford (1991), however, have found that most students retain their misconceptions, and teachers may have difficulty teaching for conceptual change. Roth (1985) also prepared specific curriculum materials, engaging students in a process of knowledge restructuring. Moreover, many strategies have been suggested for facilitating conceptual change in the literature (Driver, 1989; Dykstra et al., 1992; Guzzetti et al., 1993; Smith et al., 1993). Students conceptions of acids and bases It is known that chemistry is one of the most difficult subjects in secondary schools. Therefore, many of the students have difficulties in understanding fundamental concepts (Kavanaugh et al., 1981). Research on students understanding of chemistry concepts has revealed that students have many misconceptions. The concepts examined include equilibrium (Banerjee, 1991; Demirciolu et al., 2000), phase changes (Bar et al., 1991), chemical reaction (Barker et al., 1999), gases (Benson, et al., 1993), stoichiometry (BouJaoude et al., 2000), atoms and molecules (Griffiths et al., 1992), acids and bases (Ross et al., 1991), and covalent bonding (Peterson et al., 1986; nal et al, 2002). Many of the
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topics about which students hold misconceptions are basic to chemistry knowledge and are interrelated. Two of these fundamental concepts in chemistry are acids and bases. The concepts are related to many of the other chemistry concepts, such as the nature of matter, chemical equilibrium, chemical reaction, stoichiometry, and solutions. In the literature, there have been a number of studies that address various aspects of students understanding about acids and bases (Cros et al., 1986; Cros et al., 1988; Hand et al., 1991; Nakhleh et al., 1993; Nakhleh et al., 1994; Botton, 1995; Sisovic et al, 2000; Demirciolu et al., 2001; Demirciolu, 2003; Demirciolu et al, 2004). These studies involved students at different stages in their school or university training. Some of these studies are reviewed below. Cros et al. (1986), investigating 400 first-year university students conceptions of the constituents of matter and conceptions of acids and bases, found that the students knew more about acids than bases and had a good knowledge of formal descriptive aspects, but they had inadequate conceptions of concrete phenomena, such as heat being released during an acidbase reaction. They noted that students found it easy to give examples of acids; the most frequently mentioned being hydrochloric (93%), sulphuric (61%), and ethanoic acids (56%), but when asked to list three bases, 43% couldnt name more than two. In addition, 17% answered that pH was a measurement of the degree of acidity. Ross and Munby (1991) reported this misconception in their study too. In a follow-up study done by Cros (1988), it was found that some of the students in the second year had modified their concepts; for example, the former descriptive definition for acids (pH less than 7) replaced a scientific definition (an acid releases or can release H+). However, other concepts had hardly changed. Hand and Treagust (1991) identified five key misconceptions about acids and bases among sixty 16-year-old students. Then, they developed and implemented a curriculum about Acids and Bases based on the conceptual change approach, which aimed to remedy the student misconceptions. These were: (1) An acid is something which eats material away; an acid can burn you, (2) Testing of an acid can only be done by trying to eat something away, (3) To neutralize is to break down an acid or to change from an acid, (4) A base is something which makes up an acid, and (5) A strong acid can eat material away faster than a weak acid. Almost all these misconceptions relate specifically to acids. The results showed that students taught by using the new curriculum about Acid and Bases topic have had a higher achievement than those taught by using conventional methods. Hand (1989) followed up twenty-four of the students reported in Hand and Treagust (1991). Some students had been taught more sophisticated ideas in a pure chemistry course, while others had studied a broader based science course or biology. A test based on the five original misconceptions was administered to the group. The results of the test showed that only students studying chemistry could answer basic recall questions correctly, while those studying biology did best overall. The author concluded that the biologists did better because they were not having any interference from new definitions. In order to investigate students understanding of acids and bases, Ross and Munby (1991) conducted two audio taped interviews with each participant. The study was started with a multiple-choice test. This test was used to gain additional information for the interviews and to select the participants. The first interviews conducted three days after the administration of the multiple-choice test included tasks written on a card that contained a stimulus in the form of a drawing, diagram, or picture. In the second interviews, each student was asked to write five words or phrase he or she associated with acids and bases. The second interviews were conducted four weeks after the first interviews. The interviews were grounded on a model concept constructed from the curriculum. The results were depicted in concept maps and compared to the model concept map. Ross and Munby (1991) found that students understand more about acids than bases and had particular problems with the ionic nature of acids and bases. Driver et al. (1994) suggested that pupils ideas about acids are
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derived from sensory experiences such as tasting sour foods, and from advertisements for antacid remedies and crime stories about acid baths and news about the effects of acid rain. Since Nakhleh and Krajcik (1994) investigated how different levels of information, presented by various technologies, influenced secondary students understanding of acid, base, and pH concepts, they used concept maps constructed from the propositions that the students used in interviews conducted before and after a series of acid-base titration. After the initial interviews, students were divided into three groups. Within each group, students individually performed the same set of titrations using different technologies: chemical indicators, pH meters, and microcomputer-based (MBL). The results indicated that the order of the influence of technology on understanding is: MBL>chemical indicator>pH meter. In addition to this, they also established that some of students who participated in the study had the following misconceptions. 1. The pH is inversely related to harm and bases are not harmful. 2. Bubbles or bubbling is a sign of chemical reaction or strength. 3. Acids and bases have their own particular color or color intensity (bases are colored blue, acids are colored pink, and even different pH solutions have different colors). 4. The molecules fight and combine, and phenolphthalein helps with neutralization. 5. Acids melt metals, acids are strong and bases are not strong. 6. pH is a compound called phenolphthalein, a chemical reaction and a number related to intensity. Schmidt (1991) has stressed the example of a common misconception about neutralisation: that the neutralisation of acid and base always gives a neutral product. He refers to the neutralisation label as a hidden persuader: after all pupils are usually introduced to neutralisation reactions through examples where strong acids react with strong bases to give a neutral solution. In order to investigate students understanding of acids and bases, Demerouti, Kousathana, and Tsaparlis (2004a) constructed and utilized a questionnaire consisting of ten multiple-choice and eight open-type questions. The test was given to 119 Greek students in the twelfth grade. They found that the students had misconceptions and difficulties on the following topics: dissociation and ionization, definition of Brnsted-Lowry acids and bases, ionic equilibria, neutralization, pH, buffer solutions, and degree of ionization. Some of the misconceptions are similar to those reported elsewhere in the literature. Demerouti, Kousathana and Tsaparlis (2004b) investigated the effect of two psychometric variables: developmental level and disembedding ability or cognitive style on twelfth-grade uppersecondary students ability to deal with conceptual understanding and chemical calculations. They found that both variables played an important role in the performance of the sample (N = 119). Disembedding ability clearly had a larger effect. Developmental level was connected to most cases of concept understanding and application, but less so with situations involving complex conceptual situations and/or chemical calculations. On the other hand, disembedding ability was involved in situations that required conceptual understanding alone, especially in demanding cases, and in combination with chemical calculations. Only one of the studies above, conducted by Hand and Treagust (1991), was designed to change students misconceptions about acid and bases to scientific conceptions. Some of the misconceptions identified in the above studies were used to develop the test in the study reported here. The Science Curriculum in Turkey The current Turkish Education System consists of these components: a) Basic Education which is eight years, compulsory, and free of charge in public schools, b) Secondary Education which is three years, not compulsory and free of charge in public schools. Science was a compulsory subject in Turkish schools until recently. When students came to the
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secondary schools (Lycees) they had to take chemistry, physics and biology as compulsory subjects. The curricula for these three subjects comprise only textbook based syllabuses. There are no accompanied teacher guides, laboratory manuals or computer programs for simulations etc. Moreover, the worldwide problems of education such as overcrowding, lack of materials, inadequate laboratories, and poor teacher preparation are commonly faced in the study context as well (Ayas et al., 1993; Ayas et al., 2001). The concepts of acid, base and salt are taught initially in the eighth grade (age 13-14) of the basic education. In the second year of secondary (tenth grade) school, the concepts are studied in more detail again. It is the last unit in the curriculum. The time devoted to the unit is 17 hours. The unit contains the theories of acids and bases, the properties of acids and bases, strength of acids and bases, neutralization (titration), hydrolysis of salts, and buffers. The curriculum should normally include general purposes, topics of domain, special aims of topics, and behavioral objectives, teaching and learning activities, teaching tools, learning results, assessment tools and methods (Ayas, 1993). However, in Turkey, it only contains general purposes, topics of subject area and subtitles of each topic, with the remainder resting on the shoulders of teachers. That is, determining special aims of topics, behavioral objectives, teaching and learning activities, teaching tools, learning results, assessment tools and methods left to teachers. However, Akdeniz, Karamustafaolu and Keser, (2000) found that teachers, even experienced ones, could not describe behavioral objectives at the expected level for each of the topics. In recent curriculum development studies, aims and behavioral objectives of related topic have been determined, as in the Chemistry Draft Program developed and piloted by the National Ministry of Education in 1998, but it has not been pursued since then. In addition, several chemistry textbooks are prepared according to the national curricula prepared by the National Ministry of Education. All textbooks are sequenced in the same order of topics. The purpose of the present study Students interests in science were another important factor in learning science (Hofstein et al., 1976). Different and new materials developed for teaching any science topics were thought to play an important role on students attitudes toward science. Thus, our hypothesis is that the developed teaching material in this study increases students achievement and attitudes regarding chemistry. For this study, we developed new teaching material (NTM) designed to encourage conceptual conflict for those students holding misconceptions about acids and bases. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the NTM about the unit acids and bases on students chemistry achievement, misconceptions and attitudes toward chemistry in the tenth grade. The following research questions were specifically addressed; 1. Would the new teaching material or traditional introduction be more effective in improving students achievement and attitudes? 2. Does the new teaching material promote conceptual change concerning acids and bases? The Development of the New Teaching Material The new teaching material related to the unit acids and bases was taught to grade 10 students. The NTM was designed to help students: a) correlate scientific knowledge with their existing conceptions and b) use their new knowledge when they describe and explain new phenomena. To develop the NTM, we examined a number of related resources such as the Turkish chemistry textbooks, lycee II chemistry curriculum, and annual plans prepared by chemistry teachers to determine the depth, size and time devoted for teaching the unit. Then,
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we developed nine worksheets, five demonstrations and three analogies aiming at remedying the misconceptions identified from the interviews and the concept achievement test implemented prior to the study. In total, we prepared material that consists of eighteen lesson plans (each lesson lasts 45 minutes) and requires the students active participation. The NTM was developed and implemented with a conceptual conflict strategy. In this strategy, there was a need to determine the students preconceptions and the existence of any misconceptions before any teaching plan was prepared. The NTM covered the entire content of the current curriculum about the unit acids and bases, the same number of lessons, but with a different teaching approach. The implementation procedure of one of the worksheets used in this study is shown in Figure 1. As can be seen from this, each worksheet consists of three sections. These were: (1) the student misconceptions identified from interviews and pretests, (2) the practical activity (3) questions. While preparing the NTM, we benefited from the ideas of ten experienced chemistry teachers and two chemistry educators. The NTM was first piloted in a tenth grade class consisting of forty students. During the pilot study, paper-andpencil tests, informal students and teachers interviews and classroom observations were carried out. Based on the results, it was revised. Method Subjects The subjects for this study were eighty-eight tenth grade students from a secondary school on the north coast of Black Sea Region in Turkey. The school has nearly 900 students in total. There are eight classes at grade 10, each of which consisted of 22-24 students. Students' ages ranged from 16 to 17 years old. Two of the four chemistry teachers in the school volunteered to participate in the study. Each teacher had two tenth grade classes that participated in the study. Once one of the teachers and her two classes were randomly chosen as the experimental group, the other teacher and her two classes became the control group. The experimental group teacher (teacher A), using the new material, had 13 years of experience teaching chemistry, although she only transferred to the present school five years ago. The control group teacher (teacher B), using the traditional approach, had 12 years of experience and has only ever taught in this school. From this, we could say that the teachers had similar experience in teaching chemistry. The chemistry course in the school consists of five 45-minute periods per week; it includes three lectures and two laboratory sessions. However, the chemistry teachers in the school generally conduct lectures in the classroom setting and rarely use the laboratory. Informal interviews with the teachers showed that their main goals for the chemistry course were to help students pass the University Entrance Examination. According to them, students, parents, and school principals value success on this examination. So, the teachers encouraged their students to solve many multiple-choice questions to prepare themselves for University Entrance Examination in the chemistry courses. Thus, an important part of the courses was used for this aim. Procedure The teacher of the experimental group was introduced to the NTM and to the teaching strategy (conceptual conflict) for two weeks and underwent training on the appropriate use of the NTM before implementation in order to be sure that the NTM was used as we planned. In addition, the researchers held meetings as often as necessary to correct any misuse of the NTM as well as the teaching strategy. Both experimental and control groups were observed during the implementation of the unit. In a typical instructional sequence, while the experimental teacher tried to help their students recognize and resolve the conflict between
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personal knowledge and scientific knowledge with the NTM, the control group teacher used a teacher-centered approach mainly involving talk and chalk sessions without practical sessions. The two groups spent equal time studying the unit. However, the lessons in the experimental group generally focused on the prepared worksheets, analogies and demonstrations from the NTM, designed to encourage conceptual conflict for those students holding misconceptions about acids and bases. As an example, the implementation procedure of one of the worksheets is described below: The first stage of each worksheet was focused on the misconceptions described at the top of each worksheet (Figure 1). At this stage, the students encountered the misconceptions without any indication that they were misconceptions. This was used at the start of the lesson to create a cognitive conflict. During this process, the misconceptions were checked up in our sample. The students indicated that these phrases were generally true. If the students have different misconceptions, other than the ones on the worksheet they were discussed before going forward to the actual activity. These were usually done before the second stage. Then the practical activity on the worksheet was carried out to create a clear sign of the concept under investigation in the students mind. At the end of each practical activity, small group (four or five students per group) and whole class discussions took place under the guidance of the class teacher to encourage students to think about their misconceptions and the outcome of the activity. After these discussions, the students have changed their misconceptions, as well as the misconceptions presented at the top of each worksheet, to scientifically sound concepts. In each of the activities, we generally preferred to use substances often used in daily life, such as lemon juice, red cabbage, vinegar, baking soda, coke, etc. In addition, the teacher made use of the pre-designed analogies for some concepts, such as theories of acid and base, relative strengths of acids and bases and equilibria of weak acid and base. Also, experiments that could be harmful to the students were demonstrated by the teacher.
Figure 1: Example of a worksheet used in the study The purpose of the following activity is to remedy the following student misconceptions; i. whether a liquid is an acid or a base can just be determined by using litmus paper; ii. The only way to test a sample whether it is an acid or a base is to see if it eats something away, for example metal, plastic, animal, and us. Tools and materials needed for the activity: test tubes, dropper, HCl solution, NaOH solution, litmus, methyl orange, phenolphthalein, lemon juice, vinegar, red cabbage, soapy water. Carrying out the activity: In this test you will be using three known indicators and red-cabbage juice. Follow the sequence in the chart below. In each test, place about 4 cm3 of each solution in different test tubes. Then place 2-3 drops of the indicator into each of the test tubes. Carefully record the color in the test tubes. You are going to test the unknown solution after finishing the other tests. Solution 1. HCl solution 2. NaOH solution 3. Lemon juice 4. Vinegar 5. Soapy water 6. An unknown solution Litmus Phenolphthalein Methyl orange Red cabbage
Questions: Which solutions used in the activity are acidic? Why? Can you use red-cabbage juice to test a liquid whether it is an acid or a base? What do you have to know about an indicator before you use it? Why?
Instruments
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The Concept Achievement Test (CAT) A twenty-item test related to the concepts of acids and bases unit was constructed for the purpose of identifying the students understanding and misconceptions in chemistry. The items in CAT were multiple-choice and constructed based on a methodology used by Peterson, Treagust, and Garnett (1986) and Treagust (1988). Each item in the CAT included one scientifically acceptable answer; one common misconception revealed in the previous studies and found out during the interview sessions, and three reasonable and plausible distracters. During the development of the CAT, the following steps were taken into consideration. First, instructional objectives related to the acids and bases topic were determined, based on the current curriculum. Second, the literature related to students' misconceptions about the acids and bases concepts was examined. Third, interviews were conducted with ten high school students who were randomly selected from the sample to investigate in depth their misconceptions. The interviews were analyzed to obtain a list of students misconceptions about acids and bases. And then, a review of research on students misconceptions about these concepts was conducted to gather more information and validate the findings of interviews (Hesse, 1988). The identified misconceptions were used to develop the multiple-choice items of CAT. An example of items in CAT was: Item 8: Which one of following is a correct statement about the effects of the acids and bases?
A. B. C. *D. E. Acids burn and melt everything Beverages with soda contain weak bases. Strong acids melt and destroy metals. Some weak acids can be tasted. All acids have bubbles.
The correct answer of this item was option D, as marked by an asterisk (*). The common misconception in this item was that Acids burn and melt everything. For purposes of content validation and reduction of errors, the CAT was examined by a group of experts consisting of three chemistry educators in the Chemistry Department in the Faculty of Education and five high school chemistry teachers who had taught chemistry for over ten years at the central lycees in the city of Trabzon. These experts checked the correspondence between the items in the CAT and the identified misconceptions, and they determined that there was an acceptable correct choice for each item of CAT. In addition, CAT was piloted with forty students from grade 10. For the reliability of the CAT, an item analysis was made. After conducting the item analysis, the final form of CAT has included the elected 20 items. The alpha reliability coefficient (KR20) was found 0.92. Students completed CAT in a 45 minutes period. The t-test was used to compare the pre-test and posttest scores of the groups. Interviews with students The grade 10 students were individually interviewed for 30 to 40 minutes to obtain their preconceptions about the concepts of the acids and bases. The interviews were conducted approximately three months before teaching the acids and bases topic. For the interviews, students were categorized by the grades they received on the teacher-made exams in chemistry as high achievers, middle (average) achievers, and low achievers. The teachers were asked to select ten volunteers from middle achievers in chemistry. A semi-structured approach was used in the interviews. Six students were male and four female. All the interviews were audio taped and transcribed verbatim by the researchers. Appendix A shows the questions used in the interviews. Interview results were used to construct the items of the CAT.
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Chemistry Attitude Scale (CAS) We also developed the CAS, which contains 25 attitude statements (11 positive and 14 negative). Items in the CAS were designed to measure students attitudes toward the learning of chemistry. Because a goal of the NTM was for the students to hold more positive attitudes toward the learning of chemistry after they were taught with the NTM, items in the CAS needed to measure this. Sample attitude items crafted for instrument included: I like chemistry, I am looking forward to taking more chemistry courses, and I enjoy learning how to use chemistry in daily life. One factor was identified by factor analysis: attitude towards chemistry. This factor explained 44% of variance. The CAS contains items in a 5point Likert-scale (strongly agree, agree, undecided, partially disagree, strongly disagree). After an item analysis based on a pilot, we selected 25 items from 42 items. The reliability coefficient was 0.84 and validated by three professors in the field of education. While the ratings ranged from Strongly Agree (5) to Strongly Disagree (1) for the 11 positive statements, the reverse ratings, Strongly Agree (1) to Strongly Disagree (5), were used for the 14 negative statements. The score from the CAS can range from the lowest (25) to the highest (100). In the analysis of the CAS, firstly, the total score of each student on the CAS and then mean score of each group were computed. The mean scores of the groups were compared by using t test for both the pre-tests and post-tests. Design The study utilized a nonequivalent pretest-posttest control group design (Campbell and Stanley, 1963, p. 43). Because we were unable to assign the students randomly to the groups due to constrains of the context, this study was quasi-experimental in nature. EG CG Pre-test T1, T2 T1, T2 Instruction X1 X2 Post-test T1, T2 T1, T2
EG represents Experimental Group, using the NTM (X1) while CG represents the control group, using the traditional approach (X2). T1 represents CAT, T2 the CAS. Results and Discussion The CAT and CAS were administered to both the experimental and control group students before the instruction. No statistically significant mean difference was found between the two groups with respect to chemistry achievement (t = 0.439, df = 86, p > 0.05) and chemistry attitude scale (t = 0.406, df = 86, p > 0.05), indicating that students in the experimental and control groups were similar in respect of these two variables. As there were no significant differences between the pre-test scores of the experimental and the control groups, the post-tests scores of the groups could be compared using an independent t-test. The first research question asked whether the new teaching material or traditional introduction would be more effective in improving the students achievement and attitudes. The data showed that there was a significant difference in chemistry achievement between the experimental group (M= 73.9, SD= 12.7) and the control group (M= 60.0, SD= 15.9) t= 4.496, p < 0,001 (Table 1). This finding showed that students in the experimental group exhibited significantly higher science achievement scores than did students in the control group. Although the mean difference of 13.9 raw score seemed to be quite high, the mean of the experimental group was lower than it was expected. A reason for this was that the topic
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Acids and Bases was related to many other chemistry topics, such as the particulate nature of matter, oxidation and reduction, and chemical equilibrium.
Table 1. Comparison of the Experimental and Control Groups for Overall Differences in CAT, and CAS
Groups Measures CAT CAS Experimental group N 44 44 Mean 73.9 79.7 SD 12.7 10.9 N 44 44 Control group Mean 60.0 74.4 SD 15.9 13 4.496 2.528 0.000 0.013
The results of the t-test (Table 1) also denoted that significant differences found between groups in favor of experimental group (t = 2.528, p = 0.013), with regard to their attitudes toward chemistry. The students were more active in the laboratory approach in the NTM than in the traditional laboratory. The experimental group students spent longer time than the control group in the laboratory. Thus, they had a lot of experience in measuring, interpreting, drawing conclusions, and making generalizations. This may generate more positive attitudes towards chemistry. The percentages of the students misconceptions in both groups on the pre-test and the post-test are given in Table 2. The misconceptions reflected by the distracters in multiplechoice items in the test are the common misconceptions in a certain conceptual area. As can be seen from Table 2, the students in both groups held almost the same misconceptions on the pre-tests. The misconceptions obtained from the subject of this study support previous findings in the literature (Ross et al., 1991; Hand et al., 1991; Nakhleh et al., 1994; Ayas et al., 2002; Demirciolu, 2003.). Prior to the instruction, the percentages of the misconceptions held by the students in the experimental group ranged from 18 % to 84 %, and those of the students in the control group ranged from 20 % to 95 %, as shown in Table 2. This shows that the subjects have a great number of misconceptions related to the concepts under investigation. Before the treatment, the most common misconception among students in both groups was that "All salts are neutral" (Table 2). This misconception is also widespread among the student teachers (Demirciolu et al., 2001; Ayas et al., 2002). The second research question asked whether the use of the teaching material based on the cognitive conflict strategy promoted conceptual change concerning acids and bases. The data indicate that it contributed significantly to a better understanding of the topic acids and bases as the experimental group reached a higher level on post-tests. After the instruction, the percentages of the misconceptions held ranged from 0 % to 10 % in the experimental group, from 2 % to 41 % in the control group (Table 2). In both groups the percentages of student misconceptions decreased on the post-tests, but the experimental group did better than the control group. The students in the experimental group had completely corrected the following misconceptions: as pH increases, acids becomes harmless and bases are not harmful, pH solutions have different colors, The only way to test a sample whether it is an acid or a base is to see if it eats something away, for example metal, plastic, animal, and us, Bubbles or bubbling is a sign of chemical reaction or strength of an acid or a base, As the number of hydrogens increases in the formula of an acid, its acidity becomes stronger. These findings support previous research studies on the effectiveness of the teaching for conceptual change (Guzzetti et al, 1993; Tsai, 1999) However, a few students maintained their misconceptions, which are depicted in the Table 2. Although these results are encouraging, they are still below the expected level. The
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reason for this could be the lack of active participation in acquiring of knowledge. In addition, misconceptions, once embedded in a learners conceptual schemes, are extremely hard to remove (Novak, 1988; Songer et al., 1994). Table 2. The percentages of students misconceptions determined in the pre-tests and posttests in the experimental and control groups
Experimental Group Student Misconceptions Acids burn and melt everything All acids and bases are harmful and poisonous As pH increases, acids become harmless and bases are not harmful Different pH solutions have different colors. pH is a measure of acidity A strong acid doesnt dissociate in water solution, because its intra-molecular bonds are very strong. The only way to test a sample whether it is an acid or a base is to see if it eats something away, for example metal, plastic, animal, and us All salts are neutral Salts dont have a pH value In all neutralization reactions, acid and base consume each other completely At the end of all neutralization reactions, there are neither H+ nor OH- ions in the resulting solutions A strong acid is always a concentrated acid Bubbles or bubbling is a sign of chemical reaction or strength of an acid or a base Indicators help with neutralization As the value of pH increases, acidity increases While bases turn blue litmus paper into red, acids turns red litmus paper into blue. As the number of hydrogen atoms increases in the formula of an acid, its acidity becomes stronger Species having formulas with hydrogen are acids and those having formulas with hydroxyl are bases Pre-test f 21 16 11 11 22 20 % 48 36 25 25 50 45 Post-test f 6 3 0 0 2 8 % 14 7 0 0 5 18 f 25 12 9 10 25 21 Control Group Pre-test % 57 27 20 23 57 48 Post-test f 13 4 3 5 12 10 % 30 9 7 11 27 23
20 37 26 32 26 8 13 15 8 12 24 18
45 84 59 73 59 18 30 34 18 27 55 41
0 8 3 5 10 2 0 6 3 1 0 1
0 18 7 11 23 5 0 14 7 2 0 2
24 42 29 35 22 10 16 15 11 9 26 21
55 95 66 80 50 23 36 34 25 20 59 48
11 18 9 13 19 1 6 10 1 1 12 5
25 41 20 30 43 2 14 23 2 2 27 11
If the results are examined in detail, it can be seen that many students explained the testing of an acid based on sensory perceptions, often with statements such as The only way to test a sample whether it is an acid or a base is to see if it eats something away, for example
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metal, plastic, animal, and us. 45 % of the students in the experimental group and 55 % of the students in the control group held this misconception prior to instruction. After the instruction, while 25% of the students in the control group maintained the misconception, none of the students in the experimental group did so. This result showed that when chemistry concepts were related to everyday life during teaching, their retention in the learners mind was greater. This finding was similar to that of Ross and Munby (1991). They found that the students retain everyday concepts more than are scientific concepts. After the instruction, the most common misconception was that "At the end of all neutralization reactions, there are neither H+ nor OH- ions in the resulting solutions, with 23% of the experimental group and 43% of the control group holding it. The misconception indicated that most of the students, especially in the control group, failed to realize the central role of water in neutralization reactions. The concentration of H3O+ and OH- ions in the neutral aqueous solution is about 10-7 mol/l. Therefore, neutral doesnt mean that the two are not present in the medium. In the literature, Schmidts (1991, 1995) suggestion for the reason of this misconception was that students misunderstood the concepts of neutralization and neutrality. Another major misconception was that All salts are neutral. This misconception was held by 18% of the experimental group students and 41% of the control group students on the post tests. The misconception indicated that the students had the idea that acid and base consume each other completely in all neutralizations. This discussion shows that there are a number of misconceptions that are not confined to students of one nationality only. Therefore methods used to remedy them may, to some extent, be effective in other cultures. Conclusions and Implications The results indicate that training with the NTM based on the conceptual change strategy was more successful in remedying students misconceptions on acids and bases than conventional instruction. This result supported the notion that it is not easy to eliminate misconceptions just by employing traditional instructional methods. The students participation in the practical activities has caused not only greater understanding but also greater interest in the study of chemistry. So, while teaching acids and bases, teachers should organize activities that encourage students to use their prior knowledge and experience, and also provide them with opportunities to apply the newly acquired concepts in a variety of situations. That is, instructional strategy should focus on: first, what is known or unknown about the concepts of acids and bases, and then the new knowledge should be constructed upon existing knowledge. We have concluded that the students misunderstandings of the concepts of the acids and bases generally originated from their experiences in everyday life. So, when preparing a teaching program and student-activities on the concepts, it is very important to include everyday substances in the activities. Additionally, the students in both groups had more difficulty in understanding the neutralization (titration process) and related concepts than the others in the unit, because of the complex structure of the neutralization concept. In the teaching of this concept, in addition to simple titration activities that we used in this study, using different technologies, especially microcomputer-based activities could be suggested as better teaching tools (Nakhleh et al., 1993). Another important conclusion was that the students in the experimental group attained more positive attitudes toward chemistry than did those in the control group. This result indicated that the NTM achieved success in moving the students attitudes in the desired direction. This conclusion was not surprising because the experimental group students spent longer time than the control group ones in the laboratory. However, this conclusion may be
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surprising for many science teachers in Turkey because they tend not to use labs and do not believe that the practical activities can influence their students attitudes towards science. This study is important in emphasizing that the NTM and laboratory activities are quite influential on students achievement and attitudes. Teachers should be aware of students' prior knowledge and misconceptions on acids and bases, because they are strong predictors of student achievement. They should be informed about the usage and importance of worksheets based on conceptual change approach. In short, when suitable strategies are used in the teaching of the unit acids and bases, they are more likely to cause a significantly better removal of misconceptions and acquisition of scientifically sound concepts. In addition, chemistry teachers should be encouraged to prepare teaching materials related to the other chemistry topics in the light of the models of conceptual change. In this process, we have thought that the present study would be an important source for the chemistry teachers in Turkey as well as that in other countries. Also, current chemistry textbooks should be revised to include the elements of conceptual change. Pre-service and practising science teachers should be introduced to constructivist ideas of teaching and learning so that they become aware that the teachers role is not simply to transmit knowledge but to facilitate student learning. Relevant research results about student conceptions should be communicated to teachers, curriculum developers to inform improvement in the practice. Acknowledgements This work was supported by the Research Fund of Karadeniz Technical University, Project Number: 21.116.001.1. References
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Appendix A. Interview questions 1. The student was shown a beaker marked dilute acid, and was asked to describe the solution. 2. The student was shown an unlabelled beaker of liquid and was asked the question How would you test this liquid without litmus paper whether it is acidic or basic? 3. The student was first shown four labeled cans of vinegar, lemon, dishwashing detergent, and soapy water. Each example was then discussed as to whether it might contain an acid or a base. 4. The student was first shown four bottles labeled HCl, NaOH, NH3 and NaCl. Each example was then discussed as to whether the formula indicated an acid or base. 5. The student was shown three beakers marked pH 4, pH 7 and pH 12, and was asked to describe the solutions. 6. The student observed the changes that occurred when the dilute acid and base were mixed. The student was then asked to describe what had happened to the acid and base.
Traditional and computer-assisted learning in teaching acids and bases

Inci Morgil*, Soner Yavuz, zge zyalin Oskay and Seil Arda Hacettepe University, Faculty of Education, Beytepe-Ankara, Turkey. e-mail: inci@hacettepe.edu.tr
Received 3 September 2003, accepted 6 December 2004
Abstract: The traditional and the computer-assisted teaching methods for teaching a fundamental topic within chemistry education, acids and bases, were compared and the influences of the three dimensional spatial visualization abilities, computational attitudes and learning styles of the students on their acquisition of knowledge were investigated. The students were randomly distributed into control and experimental groups and their knowledge about acids and bases was assessed by a test comprising twenty questions. After this test, the experimental group received computer-assisted teaching and the control group was taught by traditional teaching methods for two days on the related subject. After two days of teaching, the students were tested again with the same twenty questions. Parallel to this, the three-dimensional spatial visualization abilities, computational attitudes and learning styles of the students from both groups were assessed. The three dimensional spatial visualization abilities, computational attitudes and learning styles of the students were not found to influence their test scores. However, a 52% improvement was observed in the post-instruction test results of the students of the experimental group whereas the control group only improved by 31%. The independent two-sample t-test was applied for the evaluation of the results of the study and there was a significant difference favoring the experimental group. [Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 2005, 6 (1), 52-63] Keywords: acid-base chemistry; computer-assisted education; spatial visualization ability; computational attitudes; learning styles.
Introduction Computer-aided instruction It is possible to acquire information through using computers and the Internet in science, especially by chemistry classes of primary, secondary and higher education. The teaching tools prepared by institutions specializing in such applications could also be used in virtual media. By using such teaching tools, students could learn the subject matter in a better way, as they are provided with a variety of knowledge, and a medium where they can observe the virtual experiments and repeat the same experiments many times if they request. As a result, it is expected that computer-assisted applications affect the students achievement. One of the common teaching methods that chemistry teachers prefer today is the lecture method. In this the teacher transmits knowledge to the students who sit passively in the classroom and listen. Another common method is the question-and-answer approach, which was developed in order to avoid the boredom caused by lectures and to provide a more efficient learning environment. On the other hand, case studies allow the students to face the problems that occur in real life. They help to fill the gap between theory and practice through putting the previously learnt concepts and principles into use. The best part of this method is that it enables the students to apply what they have learnt to what they are living through (Snmez, 1986).
Inci Morgil, Soner Yavuz, zge zyalin Oskay and Seil Arda
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A useful part of instruction in chemistry is the performing of experiments. This can be done by demonstrations when the teacher actively carries out the experiments in front of the class or demonstrates some materials (Bayraml, 2000) or by the students who learn about a subject by carrying out experiments in the laboratory or classroom, in which case, the role of the teacher is to guide and help them where necessary. In contrast to the previously described methods, in Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI), the teacher can use computers at different times and places according to the characteristics of the subject matter, the students, and the available software and hardware. Computer programs can be used for practice, revision, one-to-one instruction, problem solving, or simulations during the applications (Demirel, 1996). In many studies, CAI has been shown to have some benefits, although there are also cases where none were observed. With CAI, there is a form of one-to-one instruction (or two students together at each computer), plus the opportunity for the students to proceed at their own pace, repeating parts of the exercise as they wish. None of these features are easily available in a didactic classroom situation. In addition, there is added variety and, perhaps, novelty in CAI, along with the potential to use vivid and animated graphics, enabling threedimensional aspects, and other features to be viewed more realistically. Of course, not all computer programs have these features, but the potential is certainly there. For understanding to occur, students need to have the time to be able to handle new information, to think through ideas and to revisit difficult areas. All of this may reflect features of many computer programs. However, computers lack the human dimension and the ability to provoke thought by spontaneous questions and answers. A good teacher can respond to the way a class is reacting to a lesson by the skillful use of such spontaneous questions and answers. This flexibility is not easy to develop in a computer program and the style of presentation will depend on the ingenuity of the program developer and his/her own understandings of the subject matter. In a study that was conducted to find out the effects of the computer on attitudes, motivation or learning, and the possible advantages of computer-assisted test programs (Jackson, 1988), secondary school students were distributed into control and experimental groups. The assessment of the experimental group was done using computers, whereas that of the control group was done through a written test. The statistical evaluations displayed a higher achievement rate for the experimental group that received a computer-assisted test. Levine and Donitsa-Schmidt (1996) compared the traditional learning strategies with computer-based activities. Applications and the assessment were administered after the students were distributed into control and experimental groups. The results of the evaluations showed that the experimental group was more successful at answering the questions of the Chemistry Achievement Test than the control group. In another study, Demirciolu and Geban (1996) compared CAI with the traditional teaching method on 6th grade students in science classes. The students of the experimental group were taught with CAI in addition to the traditional teaching method. The students of the control group were taught through problem solving. The topics were static electricity, electrical transmission, electrical wires and Ohms laws. The science achievement rates of the two groups were compared through a t-test and the group that was taught through CAI was found to be more successful. The effects of the CAI were assessed by Gerardo (1986). This study compared the effectiveness for learning of the technology-assisted and the traditional method. The students were shown to be more successful in the technology-assisted applications. In another study, the achievement rate increased when the general chemistry applications were made through the CAI (Jackman, Moellenberg, & Brabson, 1990). Lord (1999) in a study of 90 high school students observed that they had difficulty in understanding the nitrogen cycle and experienced misconception problems when they were taught through traditional methods.
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The students were then distributed into a control and experimental group. The control group was taught through the traditional method with teacher-centered education using models, slides, OHP and the students were not allowed to ask any questions. The experimental group was taught in groups using the question and answer method in an active way. It was reported that the achievement rate of the treatment group was higher. In another study by Jackman and Moellenberg (1987), the effects of the traditional learning cycles and computer simulations on the achievement of freshmen university students in the laboratory applications on a spectrophotometer were compared. The comparisons were evaluated through t-tests. The results of the group that received CAI were found to be higher than that of the group that was taught through the other two methods. No significant difference was found between the post-test results of the groups who were taught through the learning cycle and the traditional method. Ertepnar (1995) conducted a study on the effects of the two different teaching methods involving logical thinking skills, computer-assisted education and students portfolios on the achievements of 119 high school chemistry students. The results showed that the application with two methods and the logical thinking skills of the students had a significant contribution to the achievement of the students in chemistry. Yldrm, zden and Aksu (2001) compared the traditional and hypermedia learning environments on the chosen subjects in a control-treatment group and pre- and posttest design in their study on acquiring and retaining knowledge. Forty-nine 9th grade biology students were distributed into subject (hypermedia learning environment) and control (traditional) groups. Pre-tests, post-tests and retention tests were administered to both groups. The results of the post-test did not display a significant difference between the control and experimental groups about acquiring knowledge. However, the retention tests showed that the experimental group retained knowledge better than the control group. Rivers and Vockell (1987) studied how to develop the problem solving skills of high school biology students by way of using computer simulations. Simulations were administered to the experimental group of students with and without guidance, whereas they were not administered to the control group. In order to study the effects of simulations on the development of the problem solving skills of the students, their performance was assessed through pretests, scientific thinking tests and critical thinking tests. According to the results, the students who used simulations could understand the main subjects as well as the control group students. The students who were guided through simulations could achieve better in the post-tests, scientific and critical thinking tests. In a similar study, Ybarrondo (1984) attempted to find out whether computerassisted teaching could increase the level of learning in high school biology classes. The treatment group received CAI in addition to the traditional method. The CAI applications were computer simulations. The post-test results of both groups were evaluated through a ttest but no significant difference could be observed. The students were more interested in the computer-assisted applications. A similar study was conducted by Redish, Saul and Steinberg (2000) in the introduction to calculus by distributing the students into two groups and comparing the laboratory class method based on microcomputers and the traditional problem solving method. Multiplechoice and openended exam questions were used for the assessment of both groups. Similarly to the study done by Denton (1972), the group that received computer-assisted teaching was found to be more successful than the other group. In a study by Durbin (2002), where computers and the Internet were used as teaching tools in a geography class, an increase in the students achievement rates and knowledge acquisition was observed. Acids and bases Since Liebig defined acids as substances that form hydrogen when they react with metals in 1838, many studies have been conducted about ways of teaching acids and bases. While
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defining acids and bases systematically, Sumfleth (1989) used concept maps; Schmidkunz (1985) used curriculum spirals; Weienhorn (1994) and Hilbing and Barke (2000) used thinking and visual models. In chemistry education, as in daily life, acids and bases have a special importance. Pfeifer, Husler and Lutz (1992) used student reflections in education. Also, there are many studies in which traditional education techniques are used in order to improve student performance (Bhler, 1973; Legall, 1977; Bukatsch, 1979; Weskamp, 1993; Kopyciok et al. 1998; Reiners, 2000; Sumfleth, 2001). While teaching acids and bases, demonstrations (Radford et al., 1995; Meyer et al., 2003), and carrying out experiments (Stairs, 1978; Markle, 1984; Thompson, 1998) play an important role. Instead of theoretical learning, learning by doing improves students performance (Sumfleth, 1987, 1997). In the applications, there are techniques that use constructivism (Hand and Treagust, 1991), problem based learning (Radford et al. 1995) inductive approach (Boeck, 2000) and learningcycle (Beisenherz and Dantonio, 1996). In the analogy applications, acids and bases are taught by football analogy (Todd, 2000). When computer-assisted applications started, acidbase titrations were taken into the visual medium (Gipps, 1994). The misconceptions and difficulties associated with acids and bases, the factors such as developmental level and disembedding ability that affect learning were investigated by Demerouti et al. (2004a, 2004b) and their effects on achievement was determined. But, in the studies done up to this time, the comparison of the educational techniques used in teaching of acids and bases has not been investigated. The aim of this study is to identify any possible difference in student achievement when the subject of acid-base is taught using CAI or the traditional methods in chemistry education at the university. Moreover, the effects of the factors such as the students three-dimensional spatial ability, attitudes towards computers, learning styles and socio-economic status on the students achievement were investigated. Method The subjects The participants of the study were 84 students who were attending the chemistry education and chemistry education seminar classes at Hacettepe University, Faculty of Education, Department of Chemistry Education. The test instruments The data of the study were collected through the following tests, scales and applications. Purdue Rotation-Orientation Test The spatial (three-dimensional) visualization skills of the students were evaluated by the Purdue Rotation-Orientation Test (Bodner and Guay, 1997). The students were asked to answer the twenty questions of the test in ten minutes. The results of the evaluation pointed out the relationship between the psychometric structure known as the spatial ability of the students and their achievement in the chemistry classes. The aim of the applied test was to determine the abilities of the students in visualizing the structure in their minds when the pieces of a figure (shape) or picture moved, moving the shapes (spatial structure intact visualization) and maintaining while the changes in the orientation occurred (spatial orientation).
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The Scale of Attitude The Scale of Computational Attitude developed by N. Selwyn, consisting of twentyone questions, was used in order to assess the attitudes of the students towards computerassisted chemistry education (Selwyn, 1997). The scale focused on four main structures expressed under the four main titles; these were the computational perception of the students, their previous knowledge of computers, their computer related behaviors, and whether they had any difficulties in using computers or not. The five-point likert-type scale was used for the evaluation of the statements (strongly agree, agree, indecisive, disagree, and strongly disagree). The scale consisted of eleven positive and ten negative statements. The Inventory of Learning Style The Inventory of Learning Style, developed by Kolb in 1985, determines the learning style of the individuals (Kolb, 1984, 1985; Kolb, Baker, and Dixon, 1985). The identification of the learning style for individuals indicates their choices of profession, attitudes towards problems and objectives. Moreover, it is a scale that identifies the strong and weak parts of the individuals. Kolb defined four learning styles depending on the experimental learning theory. The Inventory of Learning Style applications consists of twelve statements, each with four choices, that require the four learning styles to be ordered as to which describes them best. In Kolbs learning model, the learning styles are cyclical and The Inventory of Learning Style locates the individual in that cycle. There are four learning cycles, which are Concrete Experience, Reflective Observation, Abstract Conceptualization and Active Experience. The learning ways that symbolize each learning style are different from each other, which are, in turn, learning by, Feeling for the Concrete Experience; Observing for the Reflective Observation; Thinking for the Abstract Conceptualization and Doing for the Active Experience. However, there is no single style that identifies the learning style of the individual. The learning style of each individual is a composition of these four basic styles, which are Accommodator, Assimilator, Diverger and Converger (Akar, and Akkoyunlu, 1993). The computer software The software that was used in the computer-assisted applications is the CCI Project Software program (Creative Chemistry on the Web) prepared by ETH (Eidgenossiche Technische Hochschule Zurich/Switzerland). The software is available through the Internet (CCI-Project (Creative Chemistry on the Internet) by ETH (Eidgenssische Technische Hochschule, Zurich; http://www.cci.ethz.ch). The software includes some experiments on the subject of concepts, which can be viewed on Real Player. Moreover, there are explanations and parts where the students can watch the detailed information and reactions during the experiment show. Chemistry achievement test The chemistry achievement test was prepared by the researchers according to the CCI_Project (creative chemistry on the web) applications. The chemistry achievement test consists of 20 open-ended questions on concepts related to the subject of acid-base. The opinions of specialists were asked in order to determine which concepts were to be asked on the test; after the experts views were taken into consideration, the inner validity of the chemistry achievement test was achieved. The questions are shown in Table 1.
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Table 1. The chemistry achievement test on acids and bases. The Chemistry Achievement Test 1. When a NaOH solution was added to an AlCI3 solution that had a pH of 3.5, the pH of the solution increased to 12.0. Later, when the HCI solution was added, the pH decreased to 1.6 Write the chemical reactions of the processes. 2. What is an amphiprotic property of a substance? Explain with an example. 3. Complete the following chemical reactions Al +H2O Al +HCl Al +HNO3 Al + NaOH 4. Identify the oxidizing agent and the reducing agent in the following reaction. K2CO3 + N2 + CO + CO2 3C + 2KNO3 5. Complete the following chemical reaction. NH4Cl + H2SO4 What happens when NaOH is added to the solution at the end? 6. Complete the following chemical reactions. Explain the reasons for the effect of an acid on copper and aluminum Cu +HCl Cu +HNO3 Al +HCl Al + HNO3 7. What is a masking reagent? How does it mask in a given chemical reaction? 8. What kind of reagent can be used in the masking of [Al (H2O)6]]+3 ion. Write the equation. 9. Explain the identification reaction of ammonia. 10. How does the oxidizing power of KMnO4 vary according to the pH? Explain. 11. Which gases evolve at the anode and at the cathode during the electrolysis of the water? 12. What is the proportion of the volumes of the gases that evolve at the anode and the cathode during the electrolysis of the water? 13. What colour solution results if phenolphthalein is added to the following? a) Concentrated H2SO4, b) 1M H2SO4, c) 0.1M NaOH, d) 1M NaOH. 14. Write boric acid (H3BO3) in the Lewis acid form. 15. Write the reaction between HCl/H2O and Na2S2O3 in aqueous solution. 16. Explain the reactions that take place when a) 12M HCl, and b) 6M NaOH are added separately to acetic acid-sodium acetate buffer solution. 17. Write the chemical reaction between gaseous NH3 and HCl. What is the name of the solid substance formed? 18. Describe the dependence of the equilibrium between the CrO42 and Cr2O7-2 ions on the pH of the solution? 19. Explain the electron-pair acceptor property of a Lewis acid with an example. 20. Explain the electron-pair donor property of the Lewis base with an example.
Test-administration procedure In our study of computer-assisted learning in chemistry education, the first step was to assess the knowledge of the students about acids and bases through the above test. This topic had been taught to all the students three semesters earlier. The second step was the formation of the control and the experimental groups, and the subject matter of acids and bases was taught to the experimental group through the computer assisted teaching method and to the control group through the traditional learning method. The students all took the same test after the teaching period of two days and the changes in the students performance were observed. The post-test was administered one week after the application of the pre-test. The
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attitudes of the students towards computers, their spatial visualization abilities, learning styles, and socio-economic profiles were also studied as the factors that may affect learning. Eighty-four students of Hacettepe University, Faculty of Education, Department of Chemistry Education, who were attending the Internet, Chemistry Education and Chemistry Education Seminar classes were randomly chosen and distributed into the experimental and control groups of forty-two each. Results When the effects of the traditional and the computer-assisted methods of teaching on students achievement in acid-base in chemistry education were compared, the average increase scores of the experimental group students was found to be 52%. The average increase with the control group, however, was found to be 32%. The average score of the control group students at the pretest was found to be 36%, whereas that of the experimental group was found to be 28%. However, when the post-test results were examined the average grade of the control group was 68%, whereas that of the experimental group was 80%. When the results of the Rotation-Orientation test were examined, the average values of the control and treatment groups were found to be similar, in which more than 50% of the students were found to have adequate three-dimensional spatial visualization abilities in the RotationOrientation tests. When the attitudes of the students towards computers were assessed and the attitude statements were evaluated, the students in the experimental group were found to have a better understanding in computer-assisted teaching than the students in the control group and it was observed that they could use computers. In other words, students in the experimental group were observed to have adequate knowledge and skills to use computers. However, the students did not have much experience related to technology, concerning the computers. After the Kolb Learning Style Inventory was administered, the students were observed to display all four different learning styles. Twenty-six students from each group belonged to the assimilator learning group that could make reflective observations and abstract conceptualizations and ten students from each group belonged to the diverger learning group that could think, make abstract conceptualizations and create active experiences. Two students from the treatment group and three from the control group displayed the converger learning style, and four students from the treatment group and three from the control group displayed the accommodator learning style. Similar results were observed with students of Science and Technology Education (Akar and Akkoyunlu, 1993). As a result, the students commonly possessed the assimilator and diverger learning styles. The pre- and post-test results of the control and treatment groups that consisted of eighty-four students were statistically evaluated and independent two-sample ttests were administered. In the study, first the pre- and post-test results of the control and experimental groups were statistically evaluated (a), then the pre- and post-test results were compared for the control and the experimental groups (b). The results are displayed in Table 2.
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Table 2. The statistical evaluation of the pre- and post-test results of the experimental and the control groups (a) Control Group Experimental Group
Pre test Post test N x s t p 42 36.3 9.62 -21.41 0.000 42 68.0 Significant difference was observed favoring the post-test. N x s t p 42 28.2 7.07 -47.63 0.000 42 80.2 Significant difference was observed favoring the post-test.
(b) Experimental
Group Control Group N 42 x 28.2 Pretest s t p N 42 x 80.1 Post-test s t p
11.05 -4.72 0,000 42 36.2 Significant difference was observed favoring the Control Group the pretest results.
14.13 5.22 0.000 42 68.7 Significant difference was observed favoring the Experimental Group in the post-test in the results.
N: number of students; x: average, s: standard deviation, t: significance factor, p: significance,
Discussion When all the instruments on learning styles, attitudes towards computers, rotationorientation abilities, and increases in the achievement rates between the pre- and post-test that was administered on 84 students, in which chemistry education Internet class students were evaluated altogether, the following results could be acquired. Table 3 demonstrates the learning styles of the students.
Table 3. Correlation of learning styles with improvement between the two tests, the students Rotation-Orientation Test scores and their computational attitude scores. Control Group The increase in the success rates of the pre- and post- tests 32% 33% 30% 32%
Kolb classification Assimilator Converger Accommodator Diverger
N 26 3 3 10
The rotationorientation test 64% 86% 68% 51%
Attitude 70 73 74 74
Kolb classification Assimilator Converger Accommodator Diverger
N 26 2 4 10
Experimental Group The increase in the success rates of the pre and post tests 51% 49% 58% 51%
The rotationorientation test 58% 40% 76% 56%
Attitude 71 69 71 77
As Table 3 illustrates, the achievement increases of the students from all four learning style groups were observed to be somewhat higher with computer-assisted teaching.
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Moreover, it was observed that the other factors shown above do not have a great effect on achievement. However, because of the small number of participants, this study could be repeated with more participants and the results can be subsequently compared. Similar results were found in the researches done with students who participated in science lessons (Akar and Akkoyunlu, 1993). Table 4 displays the combined above stated results for the experimental and the control groups.
Table 4. Comparison in the improvement in the test scores, the Rotation-Orientation Test and Attitude test scores between the two groups. The Increase In The Success Rates Of The PreAnd Post- Tests Control Experimental 31% 52% The RotationOrientation Test 62% 58% Attitude
71 73
As Table 4 illustrates, the increase in the success rates of the experimental group students is higher than that of the control group students. This finding proves the superiority of the computer-assisted teaching method over the traditional one in this exercise. However, the results of the Rotation-Orientation Test or the Attitude Scale did not display any difference between the students of the control and experimental groups according to the t-test results. When students learning styles were not taken into consideration, the averages of the Rotation-Orientation test in the control group and the averages of the items for students attitudes towards computers in the experimental group were found to be higher. The point being, although the results of the three-dimensional spatial visualization abilities of the control group were higher, their achievement increase at the end of the traditional applications was not high at all. The increase in the test scores of the experimental group was higher despite their slightly lower three-dimensional spatial visualization ability results. This shows that the attitudes towards computers and the ROT Test results were not a significant factor in the students achievement concerning computer-assisted education. The superiority of the computerassisted teaching method over the traditional one stems from the students learning the subjects as a whole on the computer. Some questions on the chemistry achievement test on acid-base could be considered. For example, on question number 3, the students were asked to explain the reactions of aluminum with H2O, HCl, concentrated HNO3 and NaOH. The students of the experimental group with the computer-assisted teaching watched the above-mentioned reactions in the virtual media as dynamic experiments followed by the equations that explained the reactions. The presentations were repeated as many times as the students wished. The control group learnt the same subject directly from the teacher using transparencies at the OHP. There was not a live presentation and the revision could only be done through questions and answers. Another example could be question number 19. In the computer-assisted application, in order to explain the acceptor characteristic of the Lewis acid, a virtual experiment was done and DMF, CH2Cl2, CH3CH2OH, CH3COOH and concentrated H2SO4 were dropped in turns into the experiment tubes in which there was [Fe (phen)2 (CN)2] complex. The solutions in different colors could be observed and the experiment was followed by explanations of the characteristics of each solvent calculating the number of acceptors. The traditional application consisted of the explanations of the teacher using the OHP transparencies. If the teacher had done the same experiments in test tubes in the class in the traditional way, that would also not helped because the students would not have the chance to
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see the experiments several times. Although some constructivist applications such as question-answer, meaningful learning, and conceptual understanding are administered in the control group in order to enable them to learn the subject though the process of the study, the complex knowledge that could be presented through computer-assisted teaching could not be fully acquired. Acknowledgements We would like to thank the Hacettepe University Research Fund and German DAAD (Deutsche Akademische Austausch Dienst) for providing the necessary equipment and tools for this study. References
Akar P. and Akkoyunlu B., (1993), Kolb learning style inventory, Science and Education, 87, 37-47. Bayraml D.Y. (2000). Teachers lecture methods in chemistry education, Hacettepe University Science Institute, Master Thesis, pp. 8, 12, 15, 20. Beisenherz P. and Dantonio, M. (1996), Using the learning cycle to teach physical science: a handson approach for the middle grades, U.S. New Hampshire, 145. Bodner G. M.and Guay R., (1997), The Purdue visualisations of rotations test, The Chemical Educator, 2. Boeck C.H. (2000), Try the inductive approach, Science Teacher, 67, 24. Bukatsch F. (1979), Ein Motivationsversuch zum Thema "Universalindikator (Praktische Winke), In: Praxis der Naturwissenschaften Chemie, no. 28, p. 49. Bhler A.E. (1973), Strukturen und Lernziele der Chemie - Versuch einer lernpsychologischen Analyse des Denkprozesses am Beispiel der Neutralisation / Kompensation, In: Zeitnahe Schularbeit, 26, 1. Creative chemistry on the web, ETH (Eidgenssische Technische Hochschule Zrich/Switzerland) http://www.cci.ethz.ch Demerouti M., Kousathana M. and Tsaparlis, G. (2004a), Acid-base equlibria, Part I. Upper secondary students misconceptions and difficulties, The Chemical Educator, 9, 122-131. Demerouti, M., Kousathana, M., Tsaparlis G., (2004b), Acid-base equlibria, Part II. Effect of developmental level and disembedding ability on students conceptual understanding and problem-solving ability, The Chemical Educator, 9, 132-137. Demirciolu H. and Geban . (1996), Comparison of computer assisted and traditional problem solving activities in science, Journal of Hacettepe University Faculty of Education, 12, 183-185. Demirel . (1996), Teaching methods, Usem Publications, Ankara, p.55. Denton J.J. (1972), A methodological study of a computer-managed instructional program in high school physics, p.245. Durbin J.M., (2002), The benefits of combining computer technology and traditional teaching methods in large enrollment geoscience classes, Journal of Geoscience Education, 50, 56-63. Ertepnar H. (1995), The relationship between formal reasoning ability, computer assisted instruction, and chemistry achievement, Journal of Hacettepe University Faculty of Education, 11, 21-24. Gerardo A. (1986), Computer based learning in the engineering technology curriculum: how effective is it? Engineering Education, 76, 759-761. Gipps J. (1994), Acids, bases and computers, Australian Science Teachers Journal, 40, 48-52. Hand B. and Treagust, D.F. (1991), Student achievement and science curriculum development using a constructive framework, School Science and Mathematics, 91, 172-176. Hilbing C. and Barke H.D. (2000), Male dein Bild von der Chemie. Zum Image von Chemie und Chemieunterricht bei Jugendlichen, Chemie in unserer Zeit, 34, 17. Jackman L.E., Moellenberg W.P. and Brabson D. (1990), Effects of conceptual systems and instructional methods on general chemistry lab. achievement, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 27, 699-709.
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Jackman L.E. and Moellenberg W. (1987), Evaluation of three instructional methods for teaching general chemistry, Journal of Chemical Education, 64, 794-96. Jackson B., (1988), A comparison between computer-based and traditional assessment tests, and their effects on pupil learning and scoring, School Science Review, 69, no. 249, 809-815. Kolb D., (1984), Experimental learning: experience as the source of learning and development, Englewood cliffs. Kolb D., (1985), Learning style inventory: self-scoring inventory and interpretation booklet, Boston: McBer&Company. Kolb D., Baker R. and Dixon, N. (1985), Personal learning guide self-study booklet, Boston. Kopyciok C. and Echtermeyer S., Hildebrandt, H., Becker, H.J. (1998), Begriffe lernen: Beispiel "Suren" -wie Studentinnen sich mit chemiedidaktischer Theorie auseinandersetzen, In: Praxis der Naturwissenschaften-Chemie, no. 5, 47, 2. Legall W.D., (1977), Behandlung der sauren, basischen und neutralen Reaktion unter Beachtung der Motivation, In: Chemie in der Schule, no. 5, p. 206. Levine T. and Donitsa-Schmidt S. (1996), Classroom environment in computer-integrated science classes: effects of gender and computer ownership, Research in Science and Technological Education, 14, 163-78. Liebig J., (1838), ber die Constitution der organischen Suren, Ann. Chem. Pharm. 26, 113. Lord T.R., (1999), A comparison between traditional and constructivist teaching in environmental science, Journal of Environmental Education, 30, 22-27. Markle S., (1984), Do-it-yourself science labs, Instructor, 93, 46-47, 50. Meyer L.S., Schmidt S., Nozawa F. and Panee D., (2003), Using demonstration to promote student comprehension in chemistry, Journal of Chemical Education, 80, 431-435. Pfeifer P., Husler, K., Lutz, B. (1992), Konkrete Fachdidaktik Chemie, Mnchen (Oldenburg) Radford D., Ramsey, L., &Deese, W. (1995), Demonstration assessment: measuring conceptual understanding and critical thinking with rubrics, Science Teacher, 62, 52-55. Redish E.F., Saul, J.M., Steinberg, R.N. (2000), On the effectiveness of active-engagement microcomputer based laboratories, US, 16p. Maryland Reiners C.S., (2000), Das Donator-Akzeptor-Prinzip in der Schulpraxis Zur Mglichkeit, durch eine besondere Sichtweise zu allgemeinen Erkenntnissen zu gelangen, In: Der Mathematische und Naturwissenschaftliche Unterricht 53, 306. Rivers R. and Vockell, E., (1987), Computer simulations to stimulate scientific problem solving, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 24, 403-415. Schmidkunz, H., Bttner, D. (1985), Chemieunterricht im Spiralcurriculum, Naturwissenschaften im Unterricht-Physik/Chemie 33, 19. Selwyn N., (1997), Students attitudes toward computers: validation of a computer attitude scale for 16-19 education, Computers Education, 28, 35-41. Snmez V. (1986), Teachers handbook in program development, Yarg Publications, Ankara, 287p. Stairs R.A., (1978), Unified calculation of titration curves, Journal of Chemical Education, 55, 99. Sumfleth E. (1987), ber den Zusammenhang zwischen Schulleistung und Gedchtnisstruktur-eine Untersuchung zu Sure-Base-Theorien, Naturwissenschaften im Unterricht-Physik/Chemie, no. 35, .21-29. Sumfleth E. u. a. (1989), Stoffe: Eigenschaften und Reaktionen, Modelle: Teilchenanordnungen und Umordungen. Eine mit Lernhilfen gesttzte Einfhrung in die Chemie, Der Matematische und Naturwissenschaftliche Unterricht, 42, 411. Sumfleth E., Geisler, A. (1997), Untersuchung zur Vernderung von Schlervorstellungen im Lauf der Schulzeit im Bereich Sure/Base, Gesellschaft fr Didaktik der Chemie und Physik 2, 265. Sumfleth E., Geisler, A. (2001), Entwicklung von Schlervorstellungen im Laufe der Schulzeit am Beispiel der Sure-Base-Thematik, In: Chimica Didactica. 27, 122. Thompson R.Q. (1998), Identification of weak acids and bases by titration with primary standards. A modern version of an old analytical chemistry experiment, Journal of Chemical Education, 65, 179-180. Todd P.S. (2000), Weak vs. strong acids and bases: the football analogy, Journal of Chemical Education, 77, 849-850.
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Weienhorn R.G. (1994), Verteilungs- und Sure-Base-Gleichgewichte Lernprozesse an einem "Chemischen Kabinettstck", In: Praxis der Naturwissenschaften Chemie, 43, 2. Weskamp R. (1993), Schleraktivitt frdern Selbstndiges Arbeiten im Chemieunterricht der gymnasialen Oberstufe am Beispiel der Vermittlung von Sure-Base-Gleichgewichten, In: Naturwissenschaften im Unterricht-Chemie, 14, 46. Ybarrondo B.A. (1984), A study of the effectiveness of computer assisted instruction in the high school biology classroom, Idaho, 20p. Yldrm Z., zden M.Y. and Aksu M., (2001), Comparison of hypermedia learning and traditional instruction on knowledge acquisition and retention, Journal of Educational Research, 94, 207214.

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January 2005 ISSN 1109-4028

Volume 6, Issue No 1 Pages 1 63

Chemistry Education Research and Practice

Published quarterly by The Royal Society of Chemistry

Chemistry Education Research and Practice

Chemistry Education Research and Practice

Chemistry Education Research and Practice

Pre and po st questionnaire 66 students 1 2

App lying Pin trich mo del for d eeper analysis of interviews

Preliminary analysis of interv iew s

= main fo cus of study

1) Nature of Tasks - Content/Product

2) Reward/Goal structures - Individualistic - Cooperative/Competitive

2) Value Components - Intrinsic/Extrinsic goals - Task value - Personal interest

3) Affective Components - Test anxiety - Self-worth - Other emotions (pride, shame)

Num ber of students

10 8 6 4 2 0 -5 -4 .5 -4 -3.5 -3 -2.5 -2 -1.5 -1

Students with positive shift: central themes

Students with negative shift: central themes

2) Level of Activity and Involvement

3) Persistence Behaviour/Regulation of Effort

Students with positive shift: central views

Students with negative shift: central views

2) Reward and Goal structures 3) Instructional Methods

Stimulate situations/atmosphere like these

Avoid situations/atmosphere like these

Textbooks and teachers understanding of acid-base models used in chemistry teaching

Michal Drechsler and Hans-Jrgen Schmidt

Michal Drechsler and Hans-Jrgen Schmidt

Michal Drechsler and Hans-Jrgen Schmidt

Michal Drechsler and Hans-Jrgen Schmidt

Michal Drechsler and Hans-Jrgen Schmidt

Michal Drechsler and Hans-Jrgen Schmidt

Michal Drechsler and Hans-Jrgen Schmidt

Michal Drechsler and Hans-Jrgen Schmidt

Michal Drechsler and Hans-Jrgen Schmidt

Michal Drechsler and Hans-Jrgen Schmidt

Michal Drechsler and Hans-Jrgen Schmidt

Michal Drechsler and Hans-Jrgen Schmidt

Michal Drechsler and Hans-Jrgen Schmidt

Michal Drechsler and Hans-Jrgen Schmidt

Michal Drechsler and Hans-Jrgen Schmidt

Michal Drechsler and Hans-Jrgen Schmidt

Appendix 1 Interview guide

Gkhan Demirciolu, Alipaa Ayas and Hlya Demirciolu

Gkhan Demirciolu, Alipaa Ayas and Hlya Demirciolu

Gkhan Demirciolu, Alipaa Ayas and Hlya Demirciolu

Gkhan Demirciolu, Alipaa Ayas and Hlya Demirciolu

Gkhan Demirciolu, Alipaa Ayas and Hlya Demirciolu

Gkhan Demirciolu, Alipaa Ayas and Hlya Demirciolu

Gkhan Demirciolu, Alipaa Ayas and Hlya Demirciolu

Gkhan Demirciolu, Alipaa Ayas and Hlya Demirciolu

Gkhan Demirciolu, Alipaa Ayas and Hlya Demirciolu

Gkhan Demirciolu, Alipaa Ayas and Hlya Demirciolu

Gkhan Demirciolu, Alipaa Ayas and Hlya Demirciolu

Gkhan Demirciolu, Alipaa Ayas and Hlya Demirciolu

Gkhan Demirciolu, Alipaa Ayas and Hlya Demirciolu

Gkhan Demirciolu, Alipaa Ayas and Hlya Demirciolu

Gkhan Demirciolu, Alipaa Ayas and Hlya Demirciolu

Traditional and computer-assisted learning in teaching acids and bases

N: number of students; x: average, s: standard deviation, t: significance factor, p: significance,

Kolb classification Assimilator Converger Accommodator Diverger