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Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 19, Issue 2, Article 4 (Dec., 2018) |
Study context and data collection
The data was collected from an introductory chemistry course in a Swedish university during the first semester of the first year. The introductory chemistry course consists of four modules: equilibrium, structural chemistry, reactivity, and biochemistry. It provides a broad introduction to physical, inorganic, organic, and biochemistry. Each module includes a set of lectures, laboratory work and problem-solving classes. The laboratory work is mandatory whereas lectures and problem-solving classes are optional. The recordings came from the second module, structural chemistry, during problem-solving classes. During these classes, the students usually discuss the chemistry content presented in lectures and solve chemical problems related to this content.
Seven groups of 2-4 students were audio recorded during problem-solving activities on three different occasions. The students had previously attended the chemical equilibrium module. The recordings were each between 90 minutes and two hours long and amounted to a total time of nearly 12 hours of student discussions. The first author was present during the data collection but did not participate in the discussions or interact with the students to avoid influencing the research settings. A teacher assistant was present during these classes and acted as a facilitator to support the students. The materials available to the students were a handout that included chemical problems and answers to these problems, a book on general chemistry (Burrows et al., 2013) and the Nuffield Advanced Science: Book of data. The Book of data includes physics and chemistry data suitable for A-Level Physics and Chemistry students. The topic discussed in these problem-solving activities was chemical bonding which included different atomic models (the Bohr atom model and the quantum mechanical model of atomic and molecular orbitals), its application to electron structure, and key concepts associated with chemical periodicity. Some of the main concepts discussed during these problem-solving activities were: electron structure, electronegativity, electron affinity, shielding effect and effective nuclear charge.
