Words as Tools A Simple Method for the Teacher To Obtain Information on Pupils' Preconceptions J. Bouma Chemiedidactiek, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1083,1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands L. Brandt Aggregatie Scheikunde. Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven, Belgium Teachers become more and more aware that there is a real nrohlem with nuoils trvina to understand the suhiect taught. ?he cause, as is ofteh shown, lies in the preconceptfons already formed in the minds of children before they come into contact with science education. I t is not always simple to detect what these preconceptions are, and different methods have been tried'. The problem lies in the complexity of the matter: the more complicated the method used, the harder the elahoration of data. We have found a comnarativelv simple way to elicit data from pupils, requiringnot'too much work in elaboratina the data nrovided. I t has been shown that the method works in seveial languages and that teachers can derive ereat benefits hv using it. I t consists s i m ~ l of v - &&n o c getting the &dents to define wo;ds-without that appear in their textbooks. Obtaining Data An introductory textbook for the first year in chemistry was screened and yielded about 300 words that, in the opinion of the researchers, might pose trouhle in understanding. Out of these 300 words, 15 lists of 20 words each were composed. These lists were distributed to pupils in a classroom (not necessarily during a chemistry hour) at the very end of the year before they enter into chemistry as a subject, in order to know whether they could, without any help, understand the words in the textbook used. The only question asked was: please define the words of the list. The only source they could rely on was their own minds: no dictionary or other help was provided. Three forms of definition were accepted viz.: (1) giving a synonym, (2) giving a description, or (3) using a sentence in which the word in auestion occuried. I t & explicitly encouraged that pupilskould state all meanings for a word. if thev should know more than one. ( ~ f t e r w a r d i appearedthat t in only a small minority of the definitions were two meanings stated). Mostly, the completion of a list would take about half an hour. One hundred of the same words, identified as the most "promising" were afterward submitted t o pupils who were two forms higher. of them Part of them had had one vear of chemistrv, .. part . had chosen chemistry as a subject for their final examinations. This enabled a comuarison of data obtained f n m [he first sample of 14-~ear-oidswith those from 17-year-olds (mean ages).
Elaboration For the elaboration of the data-apart from the statistical ones like age, sex, form etc.,-two methods are open:(]) to prepare cards with dictionary definitions for comparison with the definitions given by the students ("lexical elahoration") or (2) to list all the definitions given by the students and try to sort out which associationsare to he categorized ('.word profile elalnxation"). The difference between methods Ill . . and (2) . . is that in ( 1 ) vou have to nrenare lists with all meanings provided by the-dictionary,-wdereas in ( 2 ) the 24
Journal of Chemical Education
categories are formed by the students' answers. Method (1) has as an advantaee " that scoring and comnuter elaboration is relatively simple, hut that you have to squeeze students' definitions into lexical categories. Method (2) takes more trouble but is also more rewarding. Categorizing the students' definitions yields so-called word profiles. The best insight is created by using both methods. In the lexical elaboration method, two more categories than those given by the dictionary have to he introduced. Numbering from 1 to n (the total number of dictionary categories), a category 0 must he added for those students who left the definition space blank, and a category 9 for those who eave confused answers not fitting into the nattern ("wrong" replies, if you want). The percentage of ?O 9) replies compared with (1 through n) replies gives an indication of the knowledge of the word under investigation.
-
+
An Example ot Lexlcal Elaboration One of the most striking discoveries in the Dutch language area was the word koolstnf, meaning carbon. It appeared to be unknown or "wrongly" defined [categories 0 + 9) by 98% of the students 114-vear-oldsl. Koolstof is the indication for the element, h i t t i e word is composed of the nouns kool (nronounced "coal"-it has about the same meaning). and itof (meaning substance or matter, hut also the ~ u t &word for "dust"). Part of the pupils confounded koolstof with "coal dust". But more serious was that arather large numher in some way or other defined koolstof as a gas, either poisonous or harmless. I t must have been carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide they have thought of. This confusion may arise either from a doppy use oflanguage Gust the first part of a word suffices to indicate what you mean-think of "auto" for what is correctlv called "automobile") or from imporinfluence hy biology teaching, in which COz plays tant role. This misunderstanding continues. though in declining percentages, in higher forms, until the end of secondary education, as was shown in comparable investigations among Belgian (Dutch-speaking) students.
-
-
Nontechnical Words with Technical Meanlngs Another important result is the corroboration of thesuspicion that pupils are prone to think of the nontechnical, everyday, meanings of words instead of the technical ones. Similar results have been obtained in Great Britain by Johnstone2. With Dutch-speaking pupils, normaal is not taken primarily to mean a perpendicular line or something that oc-
'
Kleinman, R. W.; Griffin, H. C.; Konigsberg Kerner, N. J. Chem. Educ 1987,64,766. Cassels. J. R. T.: Johnstone. A. H. Words that Matfer in Science: Royal society of chemistry; on don, 1985. Seealso, Cassels,J. R. T.: Johnstone, A. H. Educ. Chem. 1983,20,10.
curs as expected, but rather as the indication of a gasoline type (in contrast with super), a popular pop group, or behavior that is accepted. The word patroon is more readily defined as a cartridge or as a design (especially with girls) than as an orderly way of arrangement. This nontechnical preference is also reported from other language areas, e.g., the word compound, which in schwls in Southern Africais more frequently understood as a village or a number of cottages than as a chemical substance built up from more than one element. We have the impression that too often teachers tend to forget that the words they use in the classrwm have not only technical but also nontechnical aspects and that they are not aware that the students think "the other way round", i.e., departing from the nontechnical meanings. This is in accordance with findings of Ryan3. Word Profile Elaboration
The incentive for the second method of elaboration (word profiles) was the rich harvest of different meanings found in category 9 (confused or wrong answers). One of the most striking examples in this field is the difference in connotation between the two Dutch words-which are perfect syno n y m b f o r "chemistry", viz. scheikunde and chemie. The answers are given by the younger students. I t appeared that scheikunde meant: a suhjeet at school doing experiments something related to substancesand reactions a science several other associations, e.g., chemie
33% 24% 23% 6% 14%
substances chemistry (scheikunde) industry, products schoolsubject,science, experiments, reactions something unnatural, artificial (synthetic) poison, waste several other associations
.
So, in a simple way, we discovered a rather alarming difference in connotation between two words with-lexicallyexactly the same meanings. Scheikunde is a harmless, sometimes boring, science that is taught as a subject on school; chemie has to do with chemical industry, pollution, poison, and waste-it threatens society and should be carefully avoided! We can easily conclude that drawing up word profiles like these and discussing the results in classroom is a very useful way to detect misconceptions and to eradicate them. Consequences for Teachers and Studenis
Similar investigations carried out in Great Britain, Germany (Federal Republic), and the French-speaking part of Belgium, point out that both teachers and students should be made more word conscious. To nrovide some traininz materials, we have composed several booklets4 in which: t m.i c (with investieation after an introduction to the s~ecific . results and interpretation) several types of exercises are included.
-
-
-as a total impression, a rather harmless image of chemistry. This contrasts with the associations we could derive from the definitions given for chemie. For the pupils, this word has meanings related to:
36% 18% 15% 12% 7% 7% 6%
-
Ryan. J. N. J. Chem. Educ. 1985,64.1098. Bouma, J; Brandt, L.: Sunon. C. Wordsas Took;Chemiedidactiek Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam; (1) "Matter, 'Stuff', and Substance", (2) "Element, Compound, Reaction", (3) "The Names of Some E i e ments", (4) "Oxidation and Energy" (not yet released in the English version)
'
Chemistry in Action! "The
Periodic Table Videodisc: Reactions of t h e Elements"
"The Periodic Videodisc: Reactions of the Elements" is a 30-min videodisc containing action sequences and still shots of each element: in its most common form, reacting with air, reacting with water, reacting with acids, reacting with base, and in some common uses and applications. The videodisc has been published as Special Issue 1 of Journal of Chemical Education: Software and may he ordered for $50 ($55 foreign). Purchasers will receive a single-sided,CAV-type videodisc and a Video Image Directory, which is an indexed list of codes from which to select frames, either for use with a hand-operated, remote-control device or far writing one's own computer control programs. Those who purchased Volume IB2 of JCE: Software: "KC? Discoverer" also received a program that allows them to control the videodisc through their MS-DOS compatible computers. Further details about the videodisc may he found on page 19 of the January 1989 issue of this Journal. To order: fill the out the form below; make a check or money order payable to JCE. Software, Department of Chemistry, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI 48197. Payment must be in US. funds drawn on aU.S. bank or by international money order or magnetically encoded check.
Order Form Please send me th8 following: -me PerIodIc Table Videodisc Reactions of Me Elements; 550 (555 foreign).Includes videodisc and index of code numbers to frames on me disc.
-Information about other issues of X E : Software.
s t a t e
ZIP
Volume 67
Number 1 January 1990
25
