Katarina Senta Wissiak Grm

Action Research to Promote the Formation of Linkages by Chemistry Students Between the Macro, Submicro, and Symbolic Representational Levels

This chapter presents findings from an action research project to improve Slovenian primary-school (13–14 years) students’ understanding of the role of chemical reactions in everyday life and the meaning of representations at the submicro and symbolic levels. In the investigation, a teaching approach entitled Life – Observations – Notations (LON) was developed, tested out and evaluated. The action research was conducted in collaboration with primary school chemistry teachers, the adviser for chemistry of the National Board of Education for Slovenia, and researchers in chemical education from the University of Ljubljana. The main findings suggest that as a consequence of the application of the LON approach in classroom teaching (1) students improved their interest in learning about chemical reactions, (2) students gained a more holistic understanding of chemical reactions, (3) students’ ability to connect observations at the macroscopic level with their understanding of the submicro and symbolic levels improved, whereby models were used to bridge the gap between macroscopic observations and symbolic notations of chemical equations and (4) action research contributed to the successful development and implementation of the LON approach.

Biodegradation and Photooxidation Studies of Model Organic Pollutants

In the paper we present the results of biodegradation and photooxidation studies of halosubstituted benzyl alcohols. The basic goal of our research was to examine the effect of the type and position of the halogen atom in the aromatic ring on the degradation rate and to use the experimental data for the development of HQSAR models for predicting degradation rates. Biodegradation results of 2-halosubstituted benzyl alcohols correlate with the size of the halogen atom, while for 4-halosubstituted benzyl alcohols, a good correlation with the energy of C—X bond was observed. In the photooxidation process, the impact of position of the halogen on the rate of reaction is smaller. The HQSAR model was derived only for photooxidation data sets, while for the biodegradation it was not possible to obtain a model with satisfactory statistical characteristics.

Prospective Chemistry Teachers’ Use of Student-Centered Learning During Their Teaching Practicum

This chapter by Ferk Savec and Wissiak Grm is a concluding chapter of this book. Well-educated teacher is an important factor during student’ chemistry learning, and for that reason teachers’ education is presented at the end. It shows the importance of the pre-service chemistry teachers’ using of student-centered learning during their teacher education pre-service program. During practical pedagogical training, pre-service chemistry teachers—students of the third and fourth year at the Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana must use the knowledge gained through a number of theoretical and pedagogical subjects in the framework of their tertiary education. This means that they must also use student-centered learning methods, which facilitate the learning of chemistry with understanding. Authors researched students’ aspects about student-centered learning methods and their ability to use them effectively during their practical pedagogical training. The results suggest that students recognize many advantages of using student-centered learning methods in the chemistry classroom but, due to their limited experience, they are unable to use them as effectively as they would like.