Tin Oxide Chemistry from the Last Decade of the Nineteenth Century to the First Decade of the Twenty-First Century: Towards the Development of a Big-Picture Approach to the Teaching and Learning of Chemistry While Focussing on a Specific Compound or Class of Compounds

The discovery of the electron in 1897 deeply impacted the nature of chemistry in the twentieth century. A revolution in the theoretical structure of chemistry as well as in the instrumental tools used in chemical analysis occurred as a result of this discovery. The impact of this revolution on tin oxide chemistry over approximately a 100 year period is the focus of this paper. Important questions addressed include the following: Are tin oxides of importance in our current society or are they only of quaint academic interest? In what way has chemistry as a discipline added to our understanding of the tin oxides and has this added any technological value to these compounds? Does the historical approach followed in this paper offer chemistry educators the opportunity to place current chemical knowledge in a broader epistemological framework? The impact of the answers to these questions on chemistry education is discussed.     

How are the Concepts and Theories of Acid–Base Reactions Presented? Chemistry in Textbooks and as Presented by Teachers

This paper investigates the views of science and scientific activity that can be found in chemistry textbooks and heard from teachers when acid–base reactions are introduced to grade 12 and university chemistry students. First, the main macroscopic and microscopic conceptual models are developed. Second, we attempt to show how the existence of views of science in textbooks and of chemistry teachers contributes to an impoverished image of chemistry. A varied design has been elaborated to analyse some epistemological deficiencies in teaching acid–base reactions. Textbooks have been analysed and teachers have been interviewed. The results obtained show that the teaching process does not emphasize the macroscopic presentation of acids and bases. Macroscopic and microscopic conceptual models involved in the explanation of acid–base processes are mixed in textbooks and by teachers. Furthermore, the non‐problematic introduction of concepts, such as the hydrolysis concept, and the linear, cumulative view of acid–base theories (Arrhenius and Brönsted) were detected.     

台湾海峡两岸高中化学教材的比较和应用——以“物质结构与性质内容”为例

摘要：研究表明：两岸高中化学教材存在诸多不同;用简便的列表方法,不难对两岸高中化学教材进行面上比较;紧密结合两岸的教学实际,合理解释、正确理解比较的结果,可以使台湾教材的某些好的理念、内容和方法应用到大陆的教学过程,着实提高教学质量。     

Explanations and Teleology in Chemistry Education

It has been commonly assumed that teleological explanations are unnecessary and have no place in the physical sciences. However, there are indications that teleology is fairly common in the instructional explanations of teachers and students in chemistry classrooms. In this study we explore the role and nature of teleological explanations and the conditions that seem to warrant their use in chemistry education. We also analyse the learning implications of developing explanations of chemical phenomena within a teleological stance. Our study is based on the qualitative analysis of the instructional explanations presented in traditional chemistry textbooks used in the United States. Our results indicate that teleological explanations are in fact present in these textbooks and help provide an explanatory reason for the occurrence of chemical transformations. Their use is tightly linked to the existence of a rule, principle, or law that governs the behaviour of a chemical system, and that explicitly or implicitly implies the minimisation or maximisation of some intrinsic property. This law or principle tends to provide a sense of preferred direction in the evolution of a transformation. Although teleological explanations seem to have heuristic pedagogical value in chemistry education, they may also lead students to develop alternative conceptions and unwarranted overgeneralisations.     

Understandings and misunderstandings of eighth graders of five chemistry concepts found in textbooks

The research reported in this study was designed to answer three questions: (a) What misconceptions do eighth grade students have concerning the chemistry concepts from their textbooks. (b) How is reasoning ability related to misconceptions concerning chemistry concepts. (c) How effective are textbooks in teaching an understanding of chemistry concepts? Five chemistry concepts were used in the study: chemical change, dissolution, conservation of atoms, periodicity, and phase change. Problems concerning the five concepts were given to 247 eighth-grade students in order to assess the students' degree of understanding of chemistry concepts and to identify specific misconceptions. Two pencil-and-paper Piaget-type tasks were used to assess intellectual level. A comparison of intellectual level and scores on the chemistry concepts showed moderate correlations. However, the small number of formal operational students in the sample makes these results inconclusive. A study of the level of understanding of the five chemistry concepts and the nature of the misconceptions held by students indicate a general failure of textbooks to teach a reasonable understanding of chemistry concepts.     

浅论初中化学教材中插图的潜在功能

初中化学教材是学生学习化学的启蒙教材,由于初中生首次接触这一学科,对一些化学概念会很难理解,而教材插图是重要的教学资源,通过教材的插图,可以使学生更好地学习化学。     

高中生使用化学教辅图书现状的调查研究

笔者利用自行设计的"高中生化学同步类化学教辅图书使用情况调查问卷",对北京市高中生使用化学教辅图书的现状进行了调查。研究结果表明:教辅图书与学生的化学学习有着紧密的联系,在化学学习的各个环节,学习各类化学知识,都有学生使用教辅图书,并且学生普遍认为化学教辅图书对"三维目标"尤其是"知识与技能"目标的实现的确起到了一定的积极作用;教科书自身的特征使其在知识点与习题方面不能满足大多数学生的需求,为教辅图书提供了立足之地;教师对学生选择及使用教辅图书有着重要的影响,但教师在这方面给予学生的指导有待进一步提高。     

Physical and chemical change in textbooks: An initial view

The concepts of physical and chemical change have been treated in a variety of ways in textbooks. In this study 527 chemistry/science textbooks from a variety of countries and written at different levels of education were examined to see how they dealt with the topic of physical and chemical change. Textbooks have continued to cover this topic for over one hundred years. What evidence do textbooks contain about the purposes and methods of teaching this topic? Is its coverage in textbooks increasing or decreasing? When was physical and chemical change first taught and is it still appropriate to teach this topic? These and other related questions are considered in the paper.     

Analogies in chemistry textbooks

Abstract

This study combines a critical analysis of analogies found in eight chemistry textbooks used by Australian senior high school students with the views of the textbook authors about analogies in chemistry textbooks and teaching. Sixty‐two analogies were identified which described abstract chemical concepts such as atomic structure and collision theory. A range of styles, including pictorial analogies, were identified and the analogies were found to have variant amounts of analogical mapping and analogue explanation. Analogical limitations were rarely identified. Authors contended that they were cautious about including analogies in textbooks as analogies require a flexibility not available when they are set in print. It was argued that analogy was best applied as a strategy for teachers in response to them perceiving that students had misunderstood an original explanation.     

中学化学教材中化学史内容编排的思考

化学史是化学课程内容的重要组成部分,实施化学史教育是全面提高学生科学素养的重要途径。教材作为实现课程目标的内容载体,应从化学史素材的选择、化学史内容的编排顺序及其呈现方式等方面综合考虑化学史内容的编排,为教师的教和学生的学提供资源和引导,充分发挥化学史的教育教学功能。     

Seeking evidence for “curricular relevancy” within undergraduate,liberal arts chemistry textbooks

Interviews with representatives of nine municipal agencies involved in air‐quality education were analyzed for concepts and skills perceived as important for citizens in addressing air‐quality concerns. Interviewees focused mainly on general air quality‐related understandings (60.2%), although cognitive skills (22.0%) and specific concepts (17.8%) were also mentioned. The major categories of desired air‐quality understandings identified in interviews included sources, impact, detection, and transport of air pollutants. Identified cognitive skills focused on information‐gathering and ‐evaluating abilities, enabling informed air‐quality decision making. Eight Learning Goal Sets generated from interview data and validated via peer and member checks helped guide a content analysis of six undergraduate liberal arts chemistry textbooks. Overall, sampled chemistry textbooks supported the previously identified air‐quality concepts and skills. However, few textbooks directly confronted interviewee‐reported, air quality‐related misconceptions and inabilities. Instructional and research implications of these validated air‐quality learning goals and subsequent textbook analyses are discussed. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 174–196, 2008.     

贵州高中化学新课改对传统教学模式的影响浅论

从2010年贵州高中引进了化学新课程改革,新的理念、新的课标、新的教材对高中学生和高中化学老师带来一次新的挑战。本文从教师、学生的教与学的角色的转变,及教学案例的分析,论证了新的课改必定对传统的教学模式带来一场变革,极大地促进教学的发展。     

九年级化学教材内容类型编排对比研究——以人教版和沪教版为例

基于学科核心素养,对九年级人教版和沪教版化学教材的内容类型编排进行研究和对比分析,探讨两个版本化学教材内容编排特点,为初中化学教师教学设计、教学研究及教材二次开发利用提供科学依据,为各地区教师选择适合学生的教学资源提供参考,为更好地培养和提高学生的化学学科核心素养提供素材。     

怎样做好高三化学复习

近几年来高考化学试题,总的讲覆盖面大,综合性强,单一知识点的考题较少,体现了源于课本而高于课本。因此,高三化学总复习过程中,必须重视教材、教学大纲,使学生系统、全面地掌握高中化学的主干知识,包括基本概念、基本理论等,建立各模块之间的联系,重视基础知识、兼顾能力提升,适量练习、跳出题海,认真对待考试,做好试卷的分析与讲评,学生应适时地进行自我测评与总结。     

The role of submicroscopic and symbolic representations in chemical explanations

Chemistry is commonly portrayed at three different levels of representation – macroscopic, submicroscopic and symbolic – that combine to enrich the explanations of chemical concepts. In this article, we examine the use of submicroscopic and symbolic representations in chemical explanations and ascertain how they provide meaning. Of specific interest is the development of students' levels of understanding, conceived as instrumental (knowing how) and relational (knowing why) understanding, as a result of regular Grade 11 chemistry lessons using analogical, anthropomorphic, relational, problem‐based, and model‐based explanations. Examples of both teachers' and students' dialogue are used to illustrate how submicroscopic and symbolic representations are manifested in their explanations of observed chemical phenomena. The data in this research indicated that effective learning at a relational level of understanding requires simultaneous use of submicroscopic and symbolic representations in chemical explanations. Representations are used to help the learner learn; however, the research findings showed that students do not always understand the role of the representation that is assumed by the teacher.     

University students' assessment of the explanatory content of justification statements

A test was devised involving familiar chemical examples and administered to samples of Portuguese university chemistry students in order to establish to what extent they recognised and correctly assessed the explanatory content of statements presented in the form of justifications, usually beginning with the word ‘because’. It was found that a high percentage of the students selected as the ‘best explanations’ statements that either involved tautology or simply invoked a rule, principle or general observation. Also, low‐level interpretations and correlations between facts and/or variables (or mathematical concepts) were also frequently taken as valid explanations; more surprising, however, was the finding that a significant proportion of statements involving high level interpretation in terms of fundamental concepts were rated as providing the least intellectual satisfaction.