Concepts of Matter in Science Education

Front Matter....Pages i-xxiii
Introduction: Concepts of Matter – Complex to Teach and Difficult to Learn....Pages 1-8
Front Matter....Pages 9-9
Learning Progression Developed to Support Students in Building a Particle Model of Matter....Pages 11-45
How Students’ Understanding of Particle Theory Develops: A Learning Progression....Pages 47-67
Implicit Assumptions and Progress Variables in a Learning Progression About Structure and Motion of Matter....Pages 69-94
At the Beginning Was Amount of Material: A Learning Progression for Matter for Early Elementary Grades....Pages 95-122
Front Matter....Pages 123-123
Understanding of Basic Particle Nature of Matter Concepts by Secondary School Students Following an Intervention Programme....Pages 125-141
The Use of Multiple Perspectives of Conceptual Change to Investigate Students’ Mental Models of Gas Particles....Pages 143-168
The Atom as a Tiny Solar System: Turkish High School Students’ Understanding of the Atom in Relation to a Common Teaching Analogy....Pages 169-198
A Study on the Exploratory Use of Microscopic Models as Investigative Tools: The Case of Electrostatic Polarization....Pages 199-212
Teacher Pathways Through the Particulate Nature of Matter in Lower Secondary School Chemistry: Continuous Switching Between Different Models or a Coherent Conceptual Structure?....Pages 213-230
What Do We Know About Students’ Beliefs? Changes in Students’ Conceptions of the Particulate Nature of Matter from Pre-instruction to College....Pages 231-247
Diagnostic Assessment of Student Understanding of the Particulate Nature of Matter: Decades of Research....Pages 249-278
Front Matter....Pages 279-279
Dynamic Visualizations: Tools for Understanding the Particulate Nature of Matter....Pages 281-300
From the Scientific to the Educational: Using Monte Carlo Simulations of the Microkosmos for Science Education by Inquiry....Pages 301-315
Front Matter....Pages 317-317
Can Simple Particle Models Support Satisfying Explanations of Chemical Changes for Young Students?....Pages 319-329
How Do Students Reason About Chemical Substances and Reactions?....Pages 331-346
Developing Chemical Understanding in the Explanatory Vacuum: Swedish High School Students’ Use of an Anthropomorphic Conceptual Framework to Make Sense of Chemical Phenomena....Pages 347-370
Front Matter....Pages 371-371
Teaching and Learning of the Chemical Bonding Concept: Problems and Some Pedagogical Issues and Recommendations....Pages 373-390
A Common Core to Chemical Conceptions: Learners’ Conceptions of Chemical Stability, Change and Bonding....Pages 391-418
Macro–Micro Thinking with Structure–Property Relations: Integrating ‘Meso-levels’ in Secondary Education....Pages 419-436
Front Matter....Pages 371-371
Learning and Teaching the Basic Quantum Chemical Concepts....Pages 437-460
Front Matter....Pages 461-461
Investigating the Historical Development of the Concept of Matter: Controversies About/In Ancient Atomism....Pages 463-483
Toward a Scientifically Sound Understanding of Concepts of Matter....Pages 485-520
Back Matter....Pages 521-524