Molecules and chemical substances
Abstract
The 5th grade elementary school students are being taught about the different states of matter and phase change in the macroscopic level in the current study programme and are called to interpret them according to a basic particle model. At the end of lessons they describe the dimensions of that particle model and the differentiation of different materials in a written test. Although they are able to recreate the dimensions of the particle model, they are not capable of assessing what differentiates the molecules of different materials. They consequently assume molecules are made of the same substance they form and whatever differences are due to the way they bond or their natural characteristics.
Keywords: chemical substance, properties of molecules, substance differences
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- 1. TEACHING AND LEARNING IN SCIENCE
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