Secondary school students' alternative frameworks on the concept of condensation at the submicroscopic level

Abstract

The study was carried out to identify the students' alternative frameworks on the concept of condensation at the submicroscopic level from the aspect of explanations. The qualitative study with this design of descriptive approach involving 324 high school students who had been selected by simple random sampling. The Understanding Test on the Concept of Matter at the Submicroscopic Level consisting of ten open-ended questions used to collect the data. The obtained data were analyzed by using the content analysis technique. The results revealed the students' alternative frameworks on the concept of matter at the submicroscopic level from the aspect of explanations which were divided into three categories namely explanations with the alternative frameworks at the submicroscopic level, the limited explanations at the macroscopic level and no explanation. However, this article only discusses the second and third alternative frameworks which are limited explanations at the macroscopic level and no explanation. The results showed that there is a need among teachers and students to use the explanations at the submicroscopic level accurately and scientifically to enhance students' understanding on the concepts of chemistry. Thus, it can be concluded that the alternative frameworks belonged to the students on the concept of condensation at the submicroscopic level needs to be addressed by giving more attention to the use of submicroscopic level during the teaching and learning of chemistry sessions of the students.