Misconceptions in Chemistry: Addressing Perceptions in Chemical Education

Over the last decades several researchers discovered that children, pupils and even young adults develop their own understanding of "how nature really works". These pre-concepts concerning combustion, gases or conservation of mass are brought into lectures and teachers have to diagnose and to reflect on them for better instruction. In addition, there are ‘school-made misconceptions’ concerning equilibrium, acid-base or redox reactions which originate from inappropriate curriculum and instruction materials. The primary goal of this monograph is to help teachers at universities, colleges and schools to diagnose and ‘cure’ the pre-concepts. In case of the school-made misconceptions it will help to prevent them from the very beginning through reflective teaching. The volume includes detailed descriptions of class-room experiments and structural models to cure and to prevent these misconceptions.

From the reviews:

“Designed as a resource to improve chemistry instruction, the book describes examples of student misconceptions and then suggests teaching and learning strategies to address or prevent the development of the misconceptions. ... Each chapter concludes with a list of references and articles for further reading ... . Misconceptions in Chemistry is a reasonable addition to a library collection for those who teach chemistry or who teach chemistry teachers.” (Renée S. Cole, Journal of Chemical Education, Vol. 88 (4), April, 2011)

"This well-documented and referenced volume, which is organized around broad basic chemistry concepts, gives various examples of students’ preconceptions/misconceptions to help teachers prepare lesson plans and develop laboratory experiments. The treatments and explanations are well done and the experiments are very creative ... . This welcome addition to science/chemistry education will be valuable for both practicing and potential chemical educators. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, researchers/faculty, and professionals." (D. A. Johnson, Choice, Vol. 46 (11), 2009)