Questions, reasoning and redox reactions : the work of upper secondary school students on an open-ended biochemistry task

•  In vital processes, such as metabolic reactions, redox reactions are important. This study reports results from students’ work in small groups with an open-ended biochemistry task involving metabolic pathways. The aim was to investigate, with a special attention to redox, the questions raised, the talk developed and the resources the students used to answer their questions. Video-recorded observations of three groups were conducted. To structure data, categorisation was performed. The result shows that the main recourse used to solve the questions was the consulting of the textbook – together or individually. Most questions were answered by consulting the textbook together, or a group member answered from own knowledge. The talk developed from the questions was mostly talk concerning a limited chemistry area or short answers. Questions about redox generated talk where the students analysed and related information into a context. Few questions were answered and the textbook was of no help.

Keyword

biochemistry

redox

upper secondary school

questions

discussion

talk

reasoning

didactics of chemistry

kemididaktik

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

ovr (subject category)