An Evaluation for Dissolving Ionic Compounds in Water Between a New Unit and Traditional Methods

• In Event: 25.077 - Science Teaching and Learning SIG Paper Session: Discipline-Specific

Abstract

The dissolving of ionic compounds can be represented by dissociation equations and/or particulate diagrams, which students have trouble generating. This study compared two groups of students’ understanding of the dissolving process by scoring what they thought happened to an ionic solid dissolved in water, writing dissociation equations, and drawing particulate diagrams for different ionic compounds. One group of students were taught using a new curriculum unit focused on ionic crystals and the second group used more traditional methods of lab plus lecture. A Mann-Whitney U test indicated that the Chemical Bonding Part 3 gains were greater for the experimental students (Mdn = 57.5) than for the control students (Mdn = 39.5), U = 1286, p =0.004, r = 0.28.

Authors

• Mary Lamar, Eastern Kentucky University

• Jennifer A. Wilhelm, University of Kentucky