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- Patron, Emelie
(author)
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The role of visual representations when teaching chemical bonding : Teachers' reflections
- 2013
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Chemistry is regarded as a difficult subject to learn, one of the reasons being that many parts of chemistry fall into the micro domain, which creates an abstract distancing from the students experienced world. Visual representations are often used in order to visualize the imperceptible micro level, which makes visual representations important tools when sharing chemical knowledge both by teachers, students and experts. But even with the use of representations, students can find chemistry difficult, one reason being that students do not always experience the disciplinary representations in the way that teachers assume. Therefore, it is of great importance that teachers reflect on which representations they use and the way they are using these representations when helping students to make meaning of chemistry. Otherwise some of the visual representations they choose to use could end up hampering the learning possibility rather than enhancing it.In this project our aim was to explore how teachers reflect on the role of visual representations when teaching chemical bonding. Semi structured interviews with 12 teachers on seven different schools in southern Sweden was conducted and the interview transcripts were analyzed. The preliminary results show that the teachers use visual representations in a large extent and they state that visual representations are important when sharing chemistry knowledge with their students, but the teachers knowledge regarding the impact visual representations can have on students’ learning seems to vary and the teachers also use representations in different ways, some in which previous research claim can hamper learning possibilities. This study is a part of a larger project which also aims to explore students’ views on the visual representations used by teachers.
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