Chemistry is a difficult subject for many students. The content is challenging, and students often enter chemistry classes with preconceived ideas about chemical phenomena which may or may not align with scientific ideas (Gabel, 1999; Johnstone, 1991, 1993; Nakhleh, 1992). The purpose of this study was to understand high school students'…

This study aimed to investigate changes in the understandings of the Nature of Science (NOS) of preservice chemistry teachers after participating in the explicit, reflective, and contextual NOS teaching. The sample of the study consisted of nine preservice chemistry teachers who attended scientific research methods course at the undergraduate…

In the era of universal and compulsory education, in which attention is paid to the ability to think scientifically, there should be no room for unscientific views. However, unscientific theories often appear in the media, and they find numerous supporters. Therefore, it was decided to investigate which of the common beliefs about the…

This paper describes a case study focusing on the subject matter knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and beliefs about science teaching of student teachers in Turkey at the start of their university education. The topic of interest was that of teaching chemical reactions in secondary chemistry education. A written test was developed which…

Describes Australian secondary school, undergraduate, and postgraduate students' use of analogy and anthropomorphism along with their alternative conceptions for mental models of chemical bonding. Finds that learners make use of analogy and anthropomorphism to aid their explanations of chemical bonding, and in addition reveals that learners across…