We are surrounded by substances. From the chemicals on our lab benches to the products in the grocery store, substances are a part of our lives every day. The features and behaviors we use to characterize these substances are related to their chemical identities, and every substance has at least one unique feature that can be used to distinguish it from others. How we identify those substances and tell them apart is often an essential task when solving problems in chemistry, and how we perceive the chemical identities of substances in our daily lives influences decisions we make regarding substances.<br/> <br/>Chemical identity is believed to be a foundational concept in the domain of chemistry (Sevian & Talanquer, 2014), and thus it can be argued that it is important to characterize and understand how chemical identity thinking develops with training in chemistry. The Chemical Substance Identification (CSI) Survey was developed to elicit chemical identity thinking from students ranging from 8<sup>th</sup> grade through the end of college. The CSI Survey consists of open-ended questions, and qualitative analysis of over 400 student responses has revealed a wide variety of chemical identity concepts and many ways in which students apply them. Patterns in students’ chemical identity thinking have been uncovered and used to design a rubric that teachers can use in conjunction with the CSI Survey to assess their own students’ chemical identity thinking.

Encounters with substances: Patterns in chemical identity thinking

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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