Teaching of the Subject of Adsorption to Students by Means of Instrumental Analysis, Elimination of Potential Conceptual Fallacies

Abstract

This study is intended to investigate the subject of adsorption to the pre-service science teachers within the curriculum of chemistry course by means of instrumental analysis. The adsorption of porous materials in colourful solutions was investigated in terms of spectroscopy techniques. Then, the images and data obtained by SEM were used to increase the permanency of the learning and eliminate the potential conceptual fallacies. The study employed purposeful sampling. As data collection instruments Sciences Academic Achievement Test and observations were used in the present study. The academic achievement test developed by the researcher based on the experimental activities conducted during the application process of the study was administered as pre- test, post-test and recall-test. The data collected through pre-test, post-test and delayed recall test were analysed through SPSS 20,00 Program Package by using t-test. By considering the fact that the sampling of the study consists of pre-service science teachers and they will be practicing teachers after a while, it was observed that their skills required to design science experiments, predict the stages and outcomes of the experiment are not adequate. Presentation of experimental activities in the form of display experiments resulted in a significant difference between the pre-test and post- test results and this shows that there is an increase in the information level of the participants. The fact that greater similarity observed between the students’ post-test drawings of the surface structure of the matter adsorbing and its real structure when compared to their pre-test drawings shows that the application is successful.

Keywords

• Science education
• adsorption
• spectrophotometry
• SEM