Acid-Base Equilibria, Part I. Upper Secondary Students’ Misconceptions and Difficulties

TCE

The Chemical Educator

ISSN: 1430-4171 (electronic version)

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Abstract Volume 9 Issue 2 (2004) pp 122-131

Acid-Base Equilibria, Part I. Upper Secondary Students' Misconceptions and Difficulties

Margarita Demerouti, Margarita Kousathana, and Georgios Tsaparlis^*

University of Athens, Department of Chemistry, Graduate Program DiCheNET, Athens, Greece, University of Athens, Experimental High School, Athens Greece, mkousathana@yahoo.com, and University of Ioannina, Department of Chemistry, Ioannina, Greece, gtseper@cc.uoi.gr
Received April 28, 2003. Accepted September 18, 2003.

Published online: 26 February 2004

Abstract. Although several aspects of acid–base chemistry have been treated in the science education literature, a number of issues concerning acid–base equilibria have received little attention. In this paper, the misconceptions of a sample of twelfth-grade Greek students on the subject of acid–base equilibria are explored. Students’ misconceptions and difficulties in understanding and applying the relevant concepts were categorized into seven categories: (a) dissociation and ionization, (b) definition of Brønsted–Lowry acids and bases, (c) ionic equilibria, (d) acid–base neutralization, (e) pH, (f) buffer solutions, and (g) degree of ionization.

Key Words: Research in Teaching and Learning; general chemistry; science education

(*) Corresponding author. (E-mail: gtseper@cc.uoi.gr)

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