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CHEMISTRY EDUCATION:
RESEARCH AND PRACTICE IN EUROPE

2002, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 185-200
Theme Issue 2 on Structural Concepts
PAPER ON THE PRACTICE OF CHEMISTRY EDUCATION (INCLUDING RESEARCH)
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Hans-Dieter BARKE and Hilde WIRBS
University of Muenster, Institute for Didactics of Chemistry

STRUCTURAL UNITS AND
CHEMICAL FORMULAE

ABSTRACT: Teaching inorganic chemistry for beginners and introducing chemical formulae is not usually supported by structural models, while such models (e.g. the ball-and-stick model) are used in organic chemistry. On the basis of Dalton's atomic theory, we propose to take sphere packings and crystal lattices as structural models of inorganic solids. Students can develop images of chemical structures and differentiate between molecules and giant structures. Unit cells can be introduced as smallest units of giant structures, and students can derive formulae from given unit cells. Based on the above proposal, a research study was carried out with two classes of grade 8 as the experimental group and other three classes as control group. The experimental group was working for a period of about three months with metals, alloys and their chemical structures, finally with elementary cubes of the cubic structures and their unit cells. Performance in tests, coupled with answers to questionnaires and interviews showed that students of the experimental group were able to recognise unit cells of cubic structures and to derive empirical formulae from the used models. [Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. Eur.: 2002, 3, 185-200]

KEY WORDS: structural chemistry; chemical structure; molecular structure; crystal structure; unit cell; chemical symbols; images; spatial ability; science literacy

CORRESPONDENCE: Hans-Dieter BARKE or Hilde WIRBS, Institute for Didactics of Chemistry, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany; fax: +49 251 83 38313;
emails: barke@uni-muenster.de /wirbs@uni-muenster.de

 

 

 

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