Investigation of energy misconceptions in general chemistry students

CHED 91

Alma O. Gonzales and Melanie M. Cooper, cmelani@clemson.edu. Department of Chemistry, Clemson University, Hunter Chemistry Laboratory, Clemson, SC 29634
The concept of energy occurs consistently throughout the chemistry curriculum, and it has been shown that many students have persistent misconceptions that are resistant to instruction. In order to address these misconceptions it is important to be able to identify and understand the nature of how and why students develop these ideas. One approach is the development of an energy concept inventory that can be administered to students at various times as they move through the curriculum. Our ultimate goal is to use the results of this inventory to allow us to address specific misconceptions.

In order to identify student ideas about energy we used Ed's Tools, a web-based program that allows administration of open ended questions to students and facilitates efficient collection and coding of responses. This paper will present preliminary results from the data gathering phase of the development of a Chemistry Energy Concept Inventory (CECI).

 

General Posters
7:30 PM-9:30 PM, Sunday, April 6, 2008 Morial Convention Center -- Hall A, Poster

Sci-Mix
8:00 PM-10:00 PM, Monday, April 7, 2008 Morial Convention Center -- Hall A, Sci-Mix

Division of Chemical Education

The 235th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 6-10, 2008