School Children’s Understanding and Misconceptions of Some Basic Chemistry Concepts

Abstract

This study is designed to determine whether or not school children understand the concepts of element, compound and mixture, and to identify the reasons for the misconceptions. Concepts of element, compound and mixture are the fundamentals of chemistry education. An appropriate understanding of these concepts is very important for further learning. One important factor which makes understanding much more difficult is misconceptions. To correct these misconceptions first of all, the reasons for their existence and the level of the problem should be revealed. In this study 5th (63), 8th (131) and 9th grade (100) children were given an examination concerning these fundamental concepts; and then their answers were analysed. In this context they were asked to explain to which example that we have met in our daily life and in our textbooks (water, air, copper, starch, hydrogen, sugary water) these concepts are matched and the reasons for their answers. Our results showed that the respondents did not appropriately understand these concepts, rather, they had memorised them.