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Chemical reactivity: teaching and learning problems and attempted solutions

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, Unjversity of the
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for
the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Science.
March 1995 / This thesis reports on school teaching and learning problems in the
area of chemical re&ctivity and on an attempt to overcome some of
these problems with an in-service course for teachers.
rhase 1 of this research was a study of the conceptions of aspects
of reactivity, rates of reaction and chemical equilibrium held by
secondary school students.
The nature and origin of the conceptual di:Eficltlties, i.n the above
areas were investigated.
The concepts of ret,ctivity and reactivity se.rd.e s are formally
introduced at a standard 8 level. These concepts form a springboard
for the understanding of more formal quantitative worl< done i.n rates
of reaction and chemical equilibrium at a standard 10 level.
Two multiple-choice questionnaires, a reactivity qUestionnaire and a
i'a'Ceand (.,quilibrium qUestionnaire, were designed to probe for the
nature and ori9i.n of views held )y st<mdard 8 & 10 students
respectively.
The views of both the standard 8 & 10 students on aspects of
react~vity and reactivity series Were investigated using the
reactivity ql.ltlstionnaire.The views of a sample of 'Jtandard 8
students were also probed during interview sessions conducted at
selected schools.
standard 10 students views about concepts related to aspects of
rates of reaction and chemical equilibrium, were also investigated

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/20457
Date10 June 2016
CreatorsBapoo, Abdool Hamid
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
Formatapplication/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf

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