Epistemological Profile of Chemical Bonding: Evaluation of Knowledge Construction in High School

• Published in: Journal of chemical education 2021-02, Vol.98 (2), p.307-318
• Main Authors: Pazinato, Maurícius S, Bernardi, Flávia M, Miranda, Ana Carolina G, Braibante, Mara Elisa F
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Barriers; Chemical bonds; Chemical Education Research; Chemistry; Concept Formation; Epistemology; Foreign Countries; High School Students; Knowledge Level; Learning; Learning Processes; Misconceptions; Schools; Science education; Science Instruction; Scientific Concepts; Secondary School Science; Secondary school students; Students; Teaching methods
• ISSN: 0021-9584; 1938-1328
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00353

This work aims to evaluate the evolution of chemical bonding concepts of high school students at public schools in southern Brazil. For this, we built the epistemological profile of each student who took part in a teaching-learning sequence (TLS) about this topic, based on the foundations of Bachelard’s theory. Following the principles of the qualitative survey, we applied questionnaires to monitor the students’ ideas. The results revealed that the construction of knowledge took place by overcoming epistemological obstacles linked to the realist and empiricist philosophical zones. Most students (55.2%) presented a mostly rationalist profile at the end of the research, but misconceptions already found in the literature constitute strong barriers to the construction of knowledge, among which the nature of chemical bonds and chemical stability stand out.