Difficulties with the Geometry and Polarity of Molecules: Beyond Misconceptions

Abstract

Research evidence has shown that students often have views of scientific concepts that differ from those generally accepted by the scientific community. In chemistry, research on student understanding and misconceptions has been conducted in several conceptual areas. Recent studies have been carried out on misconceptions of covalent bonding and structure of molecules. According to the constructivist models of learning, the persistence of these learning difficulties could be explained because traditional teaching doesn't pose as an aim the conceptual change of students. In our opinion, it requires taking into account not only the students' previous ideas, but also the ways of reasoning they use to form their constructions. The aim of this paper is to analyze what grade 12 and university students of chemistry should "know" (declarative knowledge) and should "know how to do" (procedural knowledge, in terms of reasoning) concerning the geometry and polarity of molecules. At the same time, we try to diagnose the conceptual and procedural difficulties that the students could have to achieve meaningful learning of these chemical concepts.

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