TY - JOUR

T1 - Are you teaching "distillation" correctly in your chemistry classes?

T2 - An educational reconstruction

AU - Abels, Simone

AU - Koliander, Brigitte

AU - Plotz, Thomas

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023 the author(s), published by De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston 2023.

PY - 2023/7

Y1 - 2023/7

N2 - Distillation is often taught at secondary level in chemistry classes. There are, however, several pitfalls in teaching and learning the topic. First, there is not enough accessible research on students’ conceptions regarding distillation, which makes it difficult for teachers and teacher educators to teach accordingly in school or university. Second, the scientific explanation of distillation, especially the separation of liquid-liquid mixtures, is much more complex than represented in school books or other learning material. Third, teachers understandably rely on the representation in school books and other materials when teaching distillation, so that inappropriate concepts may be transferred to students. In this article, we follow the model of educational reconstruction and illustrate with reference to chemistry textbooks, school books, our own research results, and other studies on students’ conceptions the three pitfalls named above. Thus, this article aims to provide support for teachers and teacher educators to structure lessons on distillation based on scientifically appropriate information and with regard to students’ conceptions.

AB - Distillation is often taught at secondary level in chemistry classes. There are, however, several pitfalls in teaching and learning the topic. First, there is not enough accessible research on students’ conceptions regarding distillation, which makes it difficult for teachers and teacher educators to teach accordingly in school or university. Second, the scientific explanation of distillation, especially the separation of liquid-liquid mixtures, is much more complex than represented in school books or other learning material. Third, teachers understandably rely on the representation in school books and other materials when teaching distillation, so that inappropriate concepts may be transferred to students. In this article, we follow the model of educational reconstruction and illustrate with reference to chemistry textbooks, school books, our own research results, and other studies on students’ conceptions the three pitfalls named above. Thus, this article aims to provide support for teachers and teacher educators to structure lessons on distillation based on scientifically appropriate information and with regard to students’ conceptions.

KW - Didactics of sciences education

KW - chemistry education

KW - distillation

KW - misconceptions

KW - scientific explanation

KW - students’ conceptions

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85166163069&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/b8005715-e8eb-37d5-8116-1f3ac6649c97/

U2 - 10.1515/cti-2022-0034

DO - 10.1515/cti-2022-0034

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 5

SP - 229

EP - 237

JO - Chemistry Teacher International

JF - Chemistry Teacher International

SN - 2569-3263

IS - 2

ER -