MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT PERIODICITY IN SECONDARY CHEMISTRY EDUCATION: THE CASE OF KAZAKHSTAN

Abstract

Determining students’ misconceptions in chemistry is important for an effective teaching and learning chemistry. In this study we determine misconception about periodicity and help students to prevent developing erroneous ideas about periodicity. The sample of this study consists of 137 questionnaires who were secondary school`s students and the test was developed after two step application on questionnaires. A questionnaire, including multiple choice and true-false format with 7 items was applied to total of 116 eight-year and nine-year secondary school`s students who attended at gymnasium schools. The collected data was analyzed using data analysis technique in six categories (the meaning of periodicity, the determinative factors of periodic properties or periodicity, the relation between periodic properties and the number of subatomic particles, the meaning of period, periodic properties and the forms of periodic table). According to the all results, main reasons of erroneous ideas are the lack of teaching method that presenting only Mendeleev`s periodic table (short form), no exercises about periodic properties and the meaning of periodicity cannot be focused as a subject during the teaching process.

Keywords: Teaching Secondary Chemistry, Misconception, Periodicity, Periodic Propertie.

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