Faculty of Education - Theses

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The mole concept: teaching and learning

Gilchrist, Paul ( 1982)

Historically, teachers were responsible for the accurate teaching of prescriptions delineated in courses, textbooks and examinations. Recent developments in chemistry education assume a broader responsibility of teachers to become involved in the process of learning itself. This thesis is an account of one teacher's explorations of the relationship between the teaching and learning of a central concept in Chemistry; the Mole concept, through the surprisingly rich and varied literature that exists in this important scientific idea. The problem of teaching the Mole is a practical curriculum problem and as such is as much concerned with the problem of understanding the current theory in the scientific literature and understanding the perceptions of students as it is with the logical presentation of material as indicated by the text. The confusion surrounding the nature of the scientific language itself in professional literature and textbooks is weighed and the thinking of eight students recently introduced to the Mole is explored through structured interview. The thesis concludes with an evaluation of some teaching strategies and techniques of diagnosis of learning problems in this area of chemistry.