{"id":4375,"date":"2022-04-06T23:34:08","date_gmt":"2022-04-07T03:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/edt431-531\/?p=4375"},"modified":"2023-01-27T16:34:12","modified_gmt":"2023-01-27T21:34:12","slug":"ill-change-your-mind-about-chemistry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/2022\/04\/ill-change-your-mind-about-chemistry\/","title":{"rendered":"I’ll Change Your Mind (about chemistry)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When I got to college, I took general chemistry in my first semester. The lecture hall was filled with 175 students, mostly freshman, who were on tracks to go into engineering, medical, or STEM fields. The environment felt competitive and fast-paced, as we jotted down notes quickly to keep up with the lecture. I was planning on being a high school chemistry teacher and after taking AP Chemistry in high school, I felt confident and eager to learn. However, it didn’t take long until I reached concepts that were confusing and problems I struggled to solve. The more I learned, the more I realized what I had remembered from high school chemistry was slightly wrong or inaccurate. So, what happens when you start learning concepts or ideas that contradict your prior knowledge? What do you do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Have you ever been in a position where your initial conceptions were challenged or even contradicted in school? Think back to how your knowledge about science has changed over time. As a future teacher, addressing misconceptions is a key part to teaching any subject, as students enter your classroom not<\/em> as clean slates, but as people with unique amounts of prior knowledge and experiences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key Ideas about Misconceptions:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
  1. Knowledge is constructed in the mind of the learner.<\/strong> Students often struggle to take their knowledge about a context beyond the classroom or subject in which they learned it. Chemistry knowledge tends to be domain-specific, which can make it difficult for application.<\/li>
  2. Misconceptions are resistant to instruction. <\/strong>Research has shown that misconceptions are hard to change in the mind of a learner, as it requires lots of time and repeated effort.<\/li>
  3. Knowledge is not the same as understanding. <\/strong>As we know, students can possess knowledge or memorize information, but lack understanding or the ability to explain a concept adequately. <\/li>
  4. Misconceptions are often instructor-driven.<\/strong> Misconceptions are going to come from past experiences, misuse of or confusion with science language, or by simplified explanations from instructors. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    source: “I Have Found You an Argument: The Conceptual Knowledge of Beginning Chemistry Graduate Students” by George M. Bodner<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Did you know?<\/strong> Common Chemistry Misconceptions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    1. Ionic bonding requires the transfer of electrons.<\/strong> WRONG!<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Ionic bonding, such as in sodium chloride, is a process that doesn’t actually require electron transfers. This idea is driven by the Bohr Model, where sodium’s one valence electron “moves” to chloride’s one vacant space on its outer shell and by the saying kids learn in chemistry class, that “ionic bonding is the transfer<\/em> of electrons and covalent bonding is the sharing<\/em> of electrons.” In reality, bonds have varying degrees of different bonding character, which is more of an abstract concept, but can be explained by the figure below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      2. Electrons move around an atom’s nucleus in circular orbitals. <\/strong>WRONG!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Students learn in school all the time about the Bohr Model and how electrons move in a circular path in distinct orbits around the nucleus of an atom. However, atom’s nuclei are surrounded by an electron cloud, where the electrons do not exist only in one location around an atom. Again, a model is perpetuating a false idea about a core chemistry concept. Check out this video to learn more!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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