Chemistry modelling skills: students’ understanding on chemical representations at the microscopic level

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate students’ understanding on the fourth hierarchy of the chemistry modelling skills; understanding on chemical representations. The sample in this study involved 100 Form Four Malaysian school students. The Chemistry Modelling Skills Test (CMST) was used as the instrument in this study. The CMST was specifically designed by the authors to measure chemistry modelling skills in Malaysia. Data obtained from the test were analyzed using qualitative approach. The findings showed that, no students were exhibit a scientific understanding in balancing chemical equation using microscopic drawing. The majority of the students showed a non-scientific understanding and only a small number of students exhibited no understanding. Based on students’ drawings, this paper found four learning difficulties faced by students in understanding chemical representations at the microscopic level. The learning difficulties was resulted from lack understanding in the chemistry concepts namely the conservation of mass, the concept of atom, the particulate nature of matter and chemical reactions. The learning difficulties identified from this study would be used as references in developing the learning module for chemistry modelling skills.