An Explanatory Framework for Chemistry Education: The Two-World Model

Abstract

This study offers chemistry teachers, educators and researchers a useful explanatory framework—“the two-world model”—to assist them in establishing and understanding students’ thoughts about concepts or phenomena in chemistry. The chemical reaction concept has been selected as an example in introducing the two-world model within the scope of this work. Differing from previous studies in which this concept has been treated in the context of chemistry education, the present study uses the two-world model to set forth how 94 students between the ages of 15-16, define the chemical reaction concept. The students’ meaning constructions about chemicalreactions were examined undertwo different conditions. One of the conditions involved pairs of students watching a short video demonstrating an esterification reaction and then answering six questions that provoked a discussion between them. The other condition entailed students working in the laboratory on the same experiment while a set of questions stimulated the students to reflect upon the experiment. Both students’ observations were compared in order to understand the arguments they developed as they tried to convince each other that their observations could be (or could not be) interpreted as chemical reactions. It was found that after the video, the students’ arguments adhered to perceptible levels of knowledge whereas during the laboratory work, students had developed reconstructed arguments in connection with the perceptible world. This study offers recommendations based on the results obtained that will be useful to chemistry teachers, educators and researchers.