Secondary Students' Reference to Properties of Matter to Chemical Bonds: Is the Onus on the Ontological Mismatch Only?

Abstract

Grounded in the constructivist view of knowledge, the present study aimed to find out whether Turkish students have a good grasp of properties of chemical bonds after receiving the conventional teaching. A questionnaire consisted of open ended questions was used as an assessment tool. It was distributed to 11th grade chemistry students (n=404). Questions presented mass and energy properties in relation to chemical bonding and asked students to explain what they think and why they think in that way. A small group of students were also interviewed in relation to their written responses for further probing. Findings indicated that students possess alternative ideas. Despite the conventional instruction students believe that chemical bonds have mass and volume by giving the impression that they assign the concept to the matter category. A similar ontological mismatch was also detected regarding the energy concept. Findings also showed that matter-like feature of energy conception is common among Turkish students. This misconception played an important role in the context of chemical bonding as students depend upon this faulty idea in deciding mass change during bond formation.