Altering Students Misconceptions in Electrochemistry Using Conceptual Change Texts

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to identify misconceptions that students have about electrochemistry concepts and how they can be altered using conceptual change texts. A quasi-experimental design was employed. Two intact classes were chosen from two schools for the study. One school was assigned the control group and the other the experimental group. The control group class was at Ghana Senior High School, in Tamale in the northern region of Ghana and the experimental group was at Damongo Senior High School, in Damongo in the Savannah region of Ghana. The results revealed that students have many misconceptions regarding electrochemistry concepts. Many of the misconceptions centered on identifying the anode and cathode of galvanic cells, Functions of the salt bridge, Direction of flow of ions in electrochemical cells and Reactions occurring at the cells. The results also showed that for both experimental and control groups no student had sound understanding of the electrochemistry concepts tested. The results showed that there exists significant difference between the percentages of misconceptions of students in the experimental and control groups after treatment. This suggested that conceptual change texts helped students to change their pre-existing conceptions or misconceptions for scientifically acceptable ones. The study also revealed that some misconceptions were held by a considerable number of students even after the instruction using conceptual change texts. The most common misconceptions identified are; that the function of the salt bridge is to allow electron flow, the anode in an electrochemical cell is always on the left, in an electrochemical cell electrons move from one electrode to the other through the salt bridge, in an electrochemical cell anions move from anode to cathode, the cathode in an electrochemical cell is always on the right, and in an electrochemical cell oxidation occurs at the cathode and reduction at the anode.