Students' levels of explanations, models, and misconceptions in basic quantum chemistry: A phenomenographic study

Christina Stefani, Georgios Tsaparlis
(Department of Chemistry, University of Ioannina)

Publication in the international Journal “Journal of Research in Science Teaching”

English

This study investigated students' knowledge of basic quantum chemistry concepts. It reveals that fragmentation of knowledge plays a part in poor understanding. Teaching pieces of knowledge without focusing on the interconnections between them may be one of the causes of fragmentation; for example, the (theoretical) model of molecular orbitals has the same foundations as the hybridization model and the atomic-orbital model. Students possessed alternative conceptions of some basic quantum chemistry concepts such as atomic and molecular orbitals, the Schrödinger equation, hybridization and chemical bonding. Their insistence on the deterministic model of the atom and other misconceptions arise partly from the textbooks (abstract language) and the instruction method and partly from the very nature of quantum theory (difficult subject, difficult to connect with every day experiences).

Science students’ understanding of basic quantum chemistry concepts is essential to participating productively in modern science society and culture.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/121622604/PDFSTART

Dr. Katerina Salta

T.E.I of Ionian Islands

Researcher