Learning chemistry requires students to become fluent in the symbolic language of chemistry. Developing expertise requires that students move beyond manipulating equations and symbols to creating explanations with particulate models of matter to explain their observations in the laboratory. Failure to accurately interpret and connect these multiple representations of matter and Johnstone’s Domains – macroscopic, particulate, and symbolic - is one source of students’ misconceptions. Our research group has designed a suite of measurement tools to advance our understanding of how students interpret representations for a variety of core concepts. Two of these assessment tools measure students’ understandings of (1) multiple representations used to depict covalent bonding and ionic bonding and (2) the enthalpy and entropy changes that occur during solution formation and precipitation. Results from these two inventories with students enrolled in high school chemistry, general chemistry and physical chemistry will be presented.

Bonding, dissolving, and precipitation: Concept inventories that measure student thinking using multiple representations and Johnstone’s domains

2019 Fall National Meeting

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