ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTIONS OF COMMON SALT HYDROLYSIS AMONG UPPER-SECONDARY-SCHOOL STUDENTS

Reactions in aqueous solutions are an important part of chemistry education. As experience shows, they are particularly difficult for students to understand. Hydrolysis is one such reaction. It occurs in organic and inorganic compounds with either covalent and ionic structures, but salt hydrolysis i...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Baltic science education 2017-01, Vol.16 (1), p.64-76
Main Authors: Orwat, Kinga, Bernard, Paweł, Migdał-Mikuli, Anna
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Education
Organic Chemistry
School education
Science Education
Secondary Education
Secondary Schools
Students
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Reactions in aqueous solutions are an important part of chemistry education. As experience shows, they are particularly difficult for students to understand. Hydrolysis is one such reaction. It occurs in organic and inorganic compounds with either covalent and ionic structures, but salt hydrolysis is a special example. Salt hydrolysis is complex, and to understand it, students must consider the reaction equilibrium, dissociation process, and acid-base properties of reactants and products. Additionally, in the upper-secondary-school curriculum, hydrolysis is described only qualitatively, which can lead students to misinterpret hydrolysis and solution equilibrium. In this study, 235 upper-secondary-school students answered questions about the acidity of common salt solutions and tried to justify their responses by writing appropriate chemical equations. An analysis of the answers revealed the students’ alternative conceptions and misconceptions. The character of the misconceptions showed that they are school-based and largely caused by excessive simplification of the process as well as the usage of inappropriate analogies.
ISSN:1648-3898
2538-7138
DOI:10.33225/jbse/17.16.64