Conceptual evolution in university teaching: the evolution of the chemical equilibrium concept

• Grant number: 06/04137-7
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: May 01, 2007
• End date: April 30, 2010
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Education - Educational Teaching and Learning
• Principal Investigator: Flavio Antonio Maximiano
• Grantee: Flavio Antonio Maximiano
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química (IQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

During the undergraduate chemistry course, students are formally presented to a series of basic concepts that are present in almost disciplines and form a fundamental structure to understand and to make chemistry. However, the researches in the teaching/learning chemistry process, particularly those that compose the called "misconceptions movement", have been finding a series of erroneous conceptions presented by students of all levels, even in university students or in high school chemical teachers.The objective of the present project is, through the misconceptions already known, the common characteristics of these misconceptions and the research methodologies devoted in this investigation area, to develop a research program with the objective of to describe and to analyze the evolution of the learning of chemical fundamental concepts achieved by university students during their undergraduate curse.Due the central role of the chemical equilibrium concept, the objective is to describe the evolution of this concept during some undergraduate disciplines. With this purpose, the objective is to verify which are the students' conceptions on chemical equilibrium in different stages of their undergraduate studies. How these conceptions change and which conceptions are most resistant to changes. The objective is also verify which factors as: conceptual prerequisites, abilities, teaching approaches, laboratory classes, textbooks and others, are important to these conceptual changes. (AU)