An evaluation on the teaching and learning of chemical bonding and structure

Abstract

The problematics of the teaching and learning of chemical bonding has been widely reported in the literature. Following this, Taber (2001) proposed a teaching sequence alternative to those available in existing curriculum documents and textbooks. He proposed that teaching be started from metallic structure to ionic structure, then giant covalent structure and finally simple molecular structure. During teaching, teachers should be cautioned about the use of language, the undue emphasis on the role of atoms (atomic ontology), the explication of the nature of bonding (based on electrostatic forces rather than electron transfer or sharing), and a better integration of the relationship between bonding and structure. In relation to the literature about scientific modelling, bonding should be taught as an ‘explanation’ of properties of chemicals, rather than a mere ‘description’ of structure.

This paper reports an empirical study of a class of Year 10 students’ learning outcomes based on the proposed teaching sequence and emphases. Throughout the learning of the topic ‘chemical bonding’ which spanned two months, three students ranged from the highest to medium achieving students in the class were selected for interviews. Each student was interviewed on four separate occasions in the course of their learning of ‘chemical bonding’. Their understanding of concepts in relation to chemical bonding was probed through their verbal and visual representations. The effectiveness of the teaching sequence was evaluated in the light the alternative conceptions reported in the literature, strategy and suggestions for further improvements were discussed.