Many authors in CER have cited student misconceptions about the energy changes which take place when bonds are made and broken. When such changes are examined in bulk on symbolic and mathematical levels (while studying energy changes in chemical reactions, for example), students cannot construct particle-level explanations of what gives rise to energy being released or absorbed when individual bonds are formed or broken. Furthermore, the magnitude of these changes is often treated solely at the descriptive level rather than at the explanatory level. Simulations allow students to explore phenomena that are too small, large, slow, or fast to observe while providing opportunities to manipulate variables to discover cause and effect relationships while testing explanatory models. In the case of energy changes in bonding, accessing the particulate level while exploring how forces and distances affect potential energy is made possible by the PhET simulation, �Atomic Interactions.� With a conceptual change framework in mind, a guided inquiry activity with a learning cycle pedagogy using this PhET simulation has been developed and implemented in a first semester general chemistry course with approximately 200 students. The activity has also been implemented on a smaller scale in an orientation program aimed at at-risk university students. The activity, research informing its structure and content, and early data on its effectiveness will be presented. Additionally, implications of this work for other chemistry content areas will be discussed.

Simulations embedded in guided inquiry activities: Targeting students' incorrect ideas about bond breaking and making

248th National Meeting (2014)

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