Investigation of Prospective Chemistry Teachers' Views About Flow Diagram Usage in Organic Chemistry Laboratory I Course

Abstract

Flow diagrams are used to demonstrate the experimental strategy and the steps to be followed in a procedure. Organic Chemistry Laboratory I is one of the important laboratory courses of undergraduate chemistry and chemistry teaching programs. In this study, it was aimed to investigate that the prospective chemistry students' thoughts about performing the organic chemistry experiments with using flow diagram in the context of Organic Chemistry Laboratory I course. 22 undergraduate students who attend to Organic Chemistry Laboratory-I course, 13 of whom were girls and nine were men, participated in the study and the flow diagram instruction was fulfilled within nine weeks. Firstly, students were trained about what the flow diagram was and explained how to prepare the diagram for experiment. The prospective chemistry teachers constructed seven flow diagrams for seven experiments and used them during laboratory instruction. A questionnaire with 10 questions was developed by researchers to obtain the views of prospective chemistry teachers. The qualitative data were analysed through content analysis. At the end of the study, it is concluded that nearly all of the prospective chemistry teachers found that the flow diagram usage in Organic Chemistry laboratory was useful.

Keywords

• Prospective chemistry teachers
• flow diagram
• Organic Chemistry Laboratory I Course