Andoni Garritz

Undergraduate Professors’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge: The case of ‘amount of substance’

This paper documents the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of four university professors in General Chemistry for the topic ‘amount of substance’; a fundamental quantity of the International System of Units (SI). The research method involved the development of a Content Representation and the application of Mortimer’s Conceptual Profile Model to evaluate the way in which participants structured their knowledge of the topic. Five conceptual profile zones were defined: perceptive/intuitive, empiricist, formalist, rationalist, and formal rationalist. These zones were then used as criteria to classify participants’ PCK as articulated in the framework of their Content Representations. As a consequence, four different conceptual profile graphs were constructed by plotting the percentage of times that each conceptual profile zone appeared. These conceptual profile graphs revealed the ways in which each professor conceptualised his or her teaching of ‘amount of substance’.

Local softness and chemical reactivity of maleimide: nucleophilic addition

Abstract The local softness and the Fukui function of maleimide are determined through a finite differences scheme in order to show the usefulness of these concepts for rationalizing the inherent chemical reactivity of a given molecule. The local softness surface diagram of maleimide indicates that soft nucleophiles interact with the a carbon atoms, whereas hard nucleophiles interact with the carbonyl carbon atoms, in agreement with the experimental evidence.

Analogies in the teaching of chemical equilibrium: a synthesis/analysis of the literature

This paper presents a thorough literature review of the analogies used to teach chemical equilibrium. The main objective is to compile all the analogies that have been found to be of service to the teacher and the student. Additionally, we categorize and analyze analogies in relation to the following aspects: representation of the dynamic nature of equilibrium, the equality of the rates of forward and reverse reactions, the reversibility of the reaction as the concept involved, the calculation of the equilibrium constant for a reaction, the application of Le Chatelier’s principle; and the function of a catalyst in an equilibrium system. Some issues related to the use of analogies in teaching and learning are discussed, as are the misconceptions that can be erroneously introduced, reinforced or avoided with their use. Finally, some advice is provided about how the knowledge gained from this review could benefit practice.

Canonical pedagogical content knowledge by CoRes for teaching acid–base chemistry at high school

The topic of acid–base chemistry is one of the oldest in general chemistry courses and it has been almost continuously in academic discussion. The central purpose of documenting the knowledge and beliefs of a group of ten Mexican teachers with experience in teaching acid–base chemistry in high school was to know how they design, prepare and organize their classes inside and outside the classroom, from which a set of teaching–learning sequences will be developed, essentially to train new teachers. We decided to document Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK), by means of two methodological tools from Loughran, Mulhall and Berry: Content Representation (CoRe), and Pedagogical and Professional experience Repertoire (PaP-eR). In this article, we relate only the first of these tools. It was also important to document concepts, skills and attitudes, so we have made the analysis based on these three items. The main finding was to construct a Canonical PCK including the central concepts of pH and strength in the topic of acid–base chemistry from the main phrases included in the Content Representation answered by those outstanding Mexican teachers. We chose the topic of “acid–base chemistry” because there are numerous examples of its importance related to sustainability (among them acid rain or acidification of oceans), everyday issues (including stomach acidity, antacids, health troubles with the pH of blood and urine), or problems with the longevity of books related to the acidity of paper. Also, it is of fundamental importance because the students often present many alternative conceptions about it.

La enseñanza de la química para la sociedad del siglo XXI, caracterizada por la incertidumbre*

Abstract Society, science and technology are modernizing with brisk changes, and for that reason we feel that education must be renewed. We start this essay by analyzing the years of finalizing 19th century and beginning of the 20th, comparing all of that revolutionary changes with todays. Related with that, it is true that science has adopted an uncertainty sign since the arrival of the Heisenberg’s Principle and chaotic systems. We wonder how our students can face all of these changes and all uncertainty in their science courses. We focus on ten topics that will constitute a Decalogue of Paradigms for the future of Chemistry Education: 1) Chemistry at the frontier; 2) Analogies; 3) Uncertainty; 4) Inquiry; 5) Models and modeling; 6) Nature of science; 7) Competencies; 8) Risk; 9) Communication and Information Technologies, and 10) Affectivity.

Creencias de los profesores, su importancia y cómo obtenerlas

In the Introduction, the gradual changes on teaching research are informed, and how beliefs and attitudestowards science have emerged as a priority reason to interpret several aspects of teachers’ job,including lesson planning; teaching; assessment; interactions with peers, parents and students, aswell as their professional development and the ways they implement reform. Afterwards how beliefsimpact on classroom practice is explored and the ways in which they can be shown explicitly.

Mujeres y química Parte I.: De la antigüedad al siglo XVII

Women and Chemistry. Part I. From Antiquity to seventeenth century) Little has been written about the exquisite passion of discovering. This has been the main driving force of the greatest scientists — with the masculine gender — that have been in the world. But what happened with the participation of women? Does science have male gender? It seems it has, but although a careful examination of history reveals not equity, there is certainly an active participation of women in the field of science, despite the open hostility of the majority of their contemporary men. In this editorial we will take a brief walk through the lives of some of the first of them, from BC, until the seventeenth century. We will start with Tapputi, perhaps the first performer of pharmacy, after her we will deal with some alchemists of the early centuries of our era, as Cleopatra and Mary the Jewess, and then we will move to later alchemists, as Isabella Cortese and Mary Sydney Herbert. We will finish with Marie le Jars de Gournay, Margaret Cavendish and Marie Meurdrac, women living before the arrival of modern chemistry with Lavoisier and his wife Marie Anne, that will be the topic of the second part of this study. Marie Meurdrac published the opus La chymie charitable et facile en faveur des dames , a milestone, being the first work devoted to chemistry for women written by a woman. Her recipes are still used today in beauty parlors.

Historical Teaching of Atomic and Molecular Structure

Besides the presentation and conclusions, the chapter is divided into two equally important sections. The first one describes the modern development of atomic and molecular structure, emphasising some of the philosophical problems that have been taken, and those that have to be faced in its understanding. The second discusses the alternative conceptions and difficulties of students of different educational levels and also the different approaches to its historical or philosophical teaching. Finally, we recognise the necessity for science teachers to assume a specific historical-philosophical position.

Proyectos educativos recientes basados en la indagación de la química

Se hace un pasaje historico sobre el uso de la indagacion en la educacion en ciencias, primero, y sobre la educacion quimica, al final. Se hace enfasis en que la indagacion es mucho mas que un conjunto de actividades, convirtiendose no solo en una frase que abarca muchos aspectos de la ensenanza de las ciencias, sino tambien una etiqueta util que resume muchas ideas importantes que pueden servir para integrar las diversas facetas de la practica educativa.

Conocimiento Didáctico del Contenido. Una perspectiva Iberoamericana

Los autores de esta Resena hemos editado el libro Conocimiento Didactico del Contenido. Una perspectiva Iberoamericana, impreso en Alemania por la Editorial Academica Espanola. La idea fue que autores iberoamericanos de Brasil, Colombia, Espana, Estados Unidos y Mexico nos repartieramos el trabajo de escribir catorce capitulos, con un total de alrededor de 500 paginas, sobre Conocimiento Didactico del Contenido, en el que plasmaramos nuestra propia productividad en este tema de tanta trascendencia actual.