Chemistry learning

The point is that we don t stop asking questions just because we have devised a theory that seems to account satisfactorily for some aspect of natural behavior. We continue doing experiments to refine our theories. We generally do this by using the theory to make a prediction and then doing an experiment (making a new observation) to see whether the results bear out this prediction. 

Always remember that theories (models) are human inventions. They represent our attempts to explain observed natural behavior in terms of our human experiences. We must continue to do experiments and refine our theories to be consistent with new knowledge if we hope to approach a more nearly complete imderstanding of nature. 

As we observe nature, we often see that the same observation applies to many different systems. For example, studies of innumerable chemical changes have shown that the total mass of the materials involved is the same before and after the change. We often formulate such generally observed behavior into a statement called a natural law. The observation that the total mass of materials is not affected by a chemical change in those materials is called the law of conservation of mass. 

You must recognize the difference between a law and a theory. A law is a summary of observed (measurable) behavior, whereas a theory is an explanation of behavior. A law tells what happens a theory (model) is our attempt to explain why it happens. 

But memorization is only the beginning. Don t stop there or your experience with chemistry will be frustrating. Be willing to do some thinking, and learn to trust yourself to figure things out. To solve a typical chemistry 

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Appendix 3 Learning Chemistry with Molecular Models... 

LEARNING CHEMISTRY WITH MOLECULAR MODELS USING SpartanBuild AND SpartanView... 

To learn chemistry, you must become familiar with the building blocks that chemists use to describe the structure of matter. These indude-... 

My interest in the periodic table has at least two aspects. Firstly, like so many people before me, I fell in love with the rational beauty of the periodic chart that appears to systematize all the kinds of elementary substances that a student of chemistry would ever encounter.1 The extent to which students are exposed to the periodic table and the stage at which this takes place seems to vary a good deal depending on geographical location and on the era in which they learn chemistry. In my own case it was in London in the 1960s where we were not initially taught the periodic table, although it was displayed on the classroom walls. 

In this section, we show how the multimodal perspective of scientific knowledge would shed light on our understanding of students conceptions and difficulties when learning chemistry. 

The Meaning of Not Being Able to Learn Chemistry Meaningfully ... 

Table 4.1 Some examples of types of chemical equations met in learning chemistry 2Mg + O2 — 2MgO...

Nakhleh, M. B. (1992). Why some students don t learn chemistry Chemical misconceptions. Journal of Chemical Education, 69, 191-196. 

A key starting point for learning chemistry is to eonsider chemistry as a human aetivity. Seientifie and teehnological developments are interrelated with society and... 

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