Chemistry knowledge structure - views of chemistry teachers

Abstract

Modern society is characterized by rapid development in all spheres of human life. The development of education system should contribute to the development of societies and respond to all innovations placed by the industry. School has to adapt to the changeable demands of society and work on the development of positive students' attitudes towards science. In addition, schools should help students to develop effective strategies for science and chemistry learning. The chemistry teachers are expected to find the easiest and the most effective way in which students could acquire new knowledge and skills. It is important that students have an opportunity to develop understanding of chemistry instead of using the rote learning. In addition, it is necessary that students understand the practical application of the studied content and in this way functional knowledge can be acquired. Thinking about connections between concepts in chemistry and other disciplines could improve students' knowledge and lead to increasing their motivation and finally to the formation of the functional knowledge. The aim of this presentation is to show the structure of knowledge that chemistry teachers in Serbia expect their students to have when they finish primary or secondary school. In the questionnaire, a total of 120 teachers from primary and secondary schools in Serbia were asked to: 1) display the conceptual maps; 2) identify the most important chemical concepts; 3) point to the links between chemical concepts which they expect their students to learn. The results showed that teachers in primary and secondary schools use a very similar combination of concepts and identify them as key concepts for students' education in chemistry.