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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 2009  > December  >
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Research: Science and Education
Chemical Education Research
Emphasizing Multiple Levels of Representation To Enhance Students' Understandings of the Changes Occurring during Chemical Reactions
A. L. Chandrasegaran and David F. Treagust
Science and Mathematics Education Centre, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia 6845

Mauro Mocerino
Department of Applied Chemistry, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia 6845

Cover
December 2009
Vol. 86 No. 12
p. 1433
Abstract
An alternative program of instruction was implemented with 33 high-achieving Grade 9 students (15–16 years old) in Singapore that overtly focused on the use of macroscopic, submicroscopic, and symbolic representations to describe and explain the changes that occurred during the burning of metals, reactions of dilute acids, ionic precipitations, and metal ion displacement reactions. Students' understandings of the use of multiple levels of representation were evaluated at the end of nine months of instruction using a previously developed 15-item, two-tier, multiple-choice diagnostic instrument. In several instances the students displayed much better understanding of the three systems of representation than 44 students from another higher-achieving Grade 9 class who were taught with the regular instructional program that did not emphasize use of multiple levels of representation. Comparison of the mean diagnostic test scores of students from the two classes indicated that the high-achieving class in the treatment group that experienced the alternative program of instruction performed significantly better than the higher-achieving class from the comparison group that experienced the regular program of instruction, further validating the efficacy of the alternative instructional program.
Supplement
Data synopses of students' scientifically acceptable understandings of chemical reactions using multiple levels of representation for seven reaction examples
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Citation
Chandrasegaran, A. L.; Treagust, David F.; Mocerino, Mauro. J. Chem. Educ. 2009, 86, 1433.
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Keywords
Chemical Education Research; High School / Introductory Chemistry; Inorganic Chemistry; Reactions; Testing / Assessment
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History
Created:
Last Updated:
10/22/2009
10/27/2009
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