Several chemical education studies have reported misconceptions on electrochemistry among students and teachers. However, there is a dearth of research on teachers' abilities to identify students' misconceptions on basic electrochemistry concepts. Therefore, this study explored 66 Zambian pre-service science teachers on their abilities to identify junior high school students' misconceptions on electrolysis. Qualitative data collection and analysis procedures were used. Teachers were given a survey that had four scenarios on electrolysis which contained students' misconceptions. Teachers were asked to identify students'misconceptions in each scenario, provide correct explanations of the concepts, and suggest the best instructional practices for addressing such misconceptions in middle school science classrooms. Most teachers acknowledged students' misconceptions in the four scenarios. However, teachers provided incorrect, partially correct or correct explanations of the concepts. Teachers suggested both access and knowledge delivery modes as the best instructional practices for addressing students' misconceptions on electrolysis identified in each scenario.

Teachers' abilities to identify misconceptions on electrolysis

244th National Meeting (2012)

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