Chemical Concepts Inventory: Correlates between the acquired level of knowledge and the positive attitudes toward the concept

Abstract

The current study undertakes, through a structured Chemical Concepts Inventory (CCI), to evaluate the level of understanding of 15-year old Greek students of chemical ideas focused around the central concept of the periodic system of chemical elements. At the same time, using a Semantic Differential Scale Questionnaire, the study appraises the students’ attitude toward the periodic system. As a corollary to the above the study hypothesized the existence of collaterality between high grades and positive attitudes. The two questionnaires were administered to 103 students from two schools after the completion of the relevant syllabus in 26 weeks. Results showed that the scores in the CCI largely follow the same distribution, central tendency and dispersion as school tests and exams. There is a significant decrease of the scores as the syllabus moves through the four units (structure of the atom, electronic orbitals, periodic table and chemical bonds), which may be attributed to the increasing difficulty of the scientific ideas coupled with disproportionate time allocated for their assimilation. The students’ attitude toward the periodic system was largely positive. Scores in the CCI were significantly and positively correlated with in the semantic differential scores, thus substantiating the working hypothesis. This means that the semantic importance attributed to the concept of the Periodic System is directly related to the level of knowledge acquired by the student in chemistry. In a more general context, the conceptual importance attributed to a science discipline is related to the level of cognition attained in the specific discipline.