The effectiveness of predict-observe-explain technique in probing students' understanding about acid-base chemistry: a case for the concepts of pH, pOH and strength
Date
2013-06Source Title
International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education
Print ISSN
1571-0068
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Volume
11
Issue
3
Pages
555 - 574
Language
English
Type
ArticleItem Usage Stats
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Abstract
The present study describes high school students’ conceptions about acids
and bases in terms of pH, pOH, microscopic level, strength, and concentration. A total of
27 high school students participated in the study. The data was collected using 3 POE
tasks and a semi-structured interview. The data analysis demonstrated that most of the
students had poor understanding related to a drawing of weak and strong acids. In
addition, the findings revealed that the POE’s were effective in terms of gathering
students’ predictions and reasons for the prediction of outcomes in an open-ended format.
The POE tasks also revealed that some of the students had misconceptions regarding pH
and pOH. The students believed that pH was a measurement of the acidity, while pOH
was a measurement of the basicity. The findings obtained have certain implications for the
secondary chemistry program.