Using concept map to elicit student teachers’ misunderstandings related to acid and alkalis concepts

It is clear that students develop certain conceptions about scientific concepts based on their daily life experiences. These conceptions may differ from the scientific view and impede students’ learning since students interpret new knowledge based on their prior knowledge [1]. Students’ alternative conceptions may continue to exist despite instruction. Several research studies indicated that students even at the university level have alternative conceptions about science concepts [2]. In order to cure learners’ alternative conceptions, it is important to find out their prior conceptions and design teaching strategies to eliminate them. Concept mapping is a useful technique which can help the teacher identify students’ alternative conceptions, and evaluate the extent and degree of integration of students’ knowledge of a topic [3]. The purpose of this study was to detect student teachers’ misconceptions about acid and alkalis concepts. For this reason a concept map with 18 included concepts about acid and alkalis was used without providing any connections between them. The sample included 22 primary school student teachers at Allame¬¬¬-Amini campus of Farhangian University. The results obtained showed that there is meaningful relation between the answers of the students and their chemistry background. The student teachers who had studied chemistry in high school created more true connections and meaningful propositions. While almost all of the student teachers have understood the more general concepts such as acid, base, naturalization and pH, they couldn’t make sufficient propositions about the more specific concepts such as metal oxide, pollution and etc. According to the results of this study, “Alkalis and base are the same” was the most popular perceived misconception. It was also found that concept maps are very useful tools to help teachers to explore students’ misunderstandings and should be used flexibly.