Hakki Kadayifci

The Effect of a Conceptual Change Approach on Understanding of Students' Chemical Equilibrium Concepts.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of a conceptual change approach over traditional instruction on tenth‐grade students’ conceptual achievement in understanding chemical equilibrium. The study was conducted in two classes of the same teacher with participation of a total of 44 tenth‐grade students. In this study, a pre‐test/post‐test control group semi‐experimental design pattern was used. During teaching the topic of chemical equilibrium concepts in the chemistry curriculum, a conceptual change approach was applied in the experimental group whereas traditional instruction was followed in the control group. Data were analysed with an independent samples t‐test, and an analysis of covariance using the pre‐test scores as the covariate. The results showed that the conceptual change approach was statistically more effective than traditional instruction in terms of students’ conceptual understanding. After the six‐week intervention, interviews were conducted with 18 selected students in the study. In the interviews a prevailing alternative conception was detected beside many alternative conceptions. When they were asked to compare equilibrium constants of two different reactions they mostly responded to mean that ‘the bigger the mol number of the products, the bigger the equilibrium constant’ without considering what proportions the reactants were transformed into products in a reaction. Also, in this study a two‐tier multiple choice test was developed related to chemical equilibrium to detect students’ concepts and alternative concepts.

BİLİMSEL YARATICILIĞI DESTEKLEYEN ÖĞRETİMİN MADDELERİN AYRILMASI KONUSUNDAKİ ÖĞRENCİ ÇİZİMLERİNE ETKİSİ

Ogrencilerin kimyayi ogrenmelerinde, maddenin submikroskobik duzeydeki yapisiyla ilgili uygun imgelere sahip olmalari esastir. Submikroskobik duzeyle ilgili imgeleme; yeterli onbilginin yaninda, bu duzey algilanamadigindan hayal gucunu de gerekli kilar. Hayal gucu ise literaturde yaraticiligin kapsaminda ele alinmistir. Bilissel psikoloji alaninda yapilan calismalar imgelerin niteligi ile yaratici dusunme arasinda zayif-orta siddette iliski oldugunu ortaya koymaktadir. Bu calismada, ogrencilerin maddelerin ayrilmasi konusunda submikroskobik duzeyle ilgili imgelerini yansitan cizimlerinin ayrintiligina, bilimsel yaraticiligi destekleyen ogretimin etkisi incelendi. Arastirma, 9. sinifta ogrenim goren 57 ogrenci ile gerceklestirildi. Arastirma yontemi olarak, yari deneysel desen kullanildi. Arastirmada, katilimcilarin onbilgileri ve bilimsel yaraticiliklari kontrol altina alindiginda, bilimsel modele uygun ayrintilar iceren cizimler yapmalarinda, bilimsel yaraticiligi destekleyen ogretimin, geleneksel ogretimden daha etkili oldugu belirlendi.

Challenges faced by pre-service chemistry teachers teaching in a laboratory and their solution proposals

Abstract This study examines the challenges faced by pre-service chemistry teachers teaching in a laboratory and their proposed solutions to these challenges. The study was conducted in a 13-week-long methodology course. Written statements from participants and observations from researchers were used as data sources. From these data, it was found that the participants faced challenges related to content knowledge and connections, laboratory and experiments, students, planning and implementing instruction and general teacher qualifications. In terms of solutions, various ideas were proposed, such as improved development of content knowledge, pre-lesson preparation and the acquisition of professional experience. The challenges expressed by participants differed from those observed by the researchers and increased during the length of the course. In addition, their proposed solutions were not sufficient, coherent or explicit.