Second Level Irish pupils’ and teachers’ view of difficulties in Organic Chemistry.
Anne O’ Dwyer* & Peter Childs.
University of Limerick, Ireland.
*
Background:
The 1960’s saw the launch of initiatives to address learners’ deeper understanding of scientific concepts. However, there is a significant gap between Chemistry education research and the teaching. Factors contributing to the difficulties with Chemistry include the nature of Chemistry, curriculum issues, language, Mathematical content, chemical misconceptions and the cognitive level.
Previous studies have identified Organic Chemistry as an area of difficulty at second level (Johnstone 1971, Ratcliffe 2002, Jimoh 2005, Johnstone 2006, Childs and Sheehan 2009).
Extensive reseach has been carried out in investigating the difficulties learners have with Organic Chemistry in other parts of the world, (Bhattacharyya and Bodner 2005, Ferguson and Bodner 2008, Nash et al. 2000, Stamovlasis and Tsaparlis 2000) but very little has been investigated in this field in Ireland
Research Questions:
§ What specific areas of Organic Chemistry do Irish Leaving Certificate pupils find difficult?
§ What specific areas of Organic Chemistry do second level teachers in Ireland find most difficult to teach?
§ What are the causes for these areas of difficulty in Organic Chemistry?
§ What teaching approaches contribute to the effective teaching and learning of Organic Chemistry?
Methodology:
This investigation involved designing two questionnaires; a Teacher Questionnaire and a Pupil Questionnaire. The Second Level Pupil Questionnaire had two sections. Section A sought information about the pupils’ Science and Mathematics background while Section B was a Diagnostic Test. This Diagnostic Test consisted of nine questions, each assessing a different topic from the Leaving Certificate Organic Chemistry syllabus. The aim of the Diagnostic Test was to assess the participants’ level of knowledge and understanding. The Chemistry Teacher Questionnaire had just one section and aimed to find out the teachers’ perspective and approach to teaching Organic Chemistry at second level.
Both questionnaires were piloted with 36 pupils and 10 teachers in 10 different schools. For the main study a representative sample of 100 second level schools were randomly selected from a list of 547 schools teaching Leaving Certificate Chemistry in Ireland. In total, 73 Chemistry Teacher Questionnaires were returned from 68 schools and 276 Second Level Pupil Questionnaires were returned from 35 second level schools. SPSS Version 16.0 was used to analyse the questionnaires.
Results:
258 (93.5%) of the pupils involved in this study were in sixth year and the remainder in fifth year Leaving Certificate Chemistry. 246 (89.1%) of the pupils were studying Higher Level Leaving Certificate Chemistry. When asked about their attitudes towards Organic Chemistry, 165 (59.8%) found it difficult. However, 158 (57.2%) enjoyed studying it and 124 (44.9%) agreed that it is interesting. The same five-point Likert rating scale was used in both questionnaires to assess attitudes towards Organic Chemistry topics (using the scale 1= Really Easy to 5= Really Difficult). A mean value (included here in brackets) greater than 3.00 indicates a difficult topic. Topics that were identified as difficult by the pupils were Organic Mechanisms (3.56) and Organic Synthesis (3.54). Topics which the pupils listed as easy included the Drawing (2.09) and Naming (2.46) of Organic Compounds, Oil refining (2.24) and Chromatography (2.60). The average score in the Second Level Diagnostic Test was 52.6%. Pupil perceptions of topics were consistent with their performance in the Diagnostic Test with the exception of Naming organic compounds. This topic was poorly answered in the Diagnostic Tests despite being perceived as easy.
The Chemistry Teacher Questionnaire provided an insight into the teachers’ attitudes towards Organic Chemistry. Topics identified as easy to teach by the teachers were Drawing (1.97) and Naming (2.03) of Organic Compounds, Classification (2.34), Isomerism (2.37), Oil refining (2.09) and Chromatography (1.91). The top three most difficult topics to teach were identified as: Instrumentation, Organic Mechanisms and Organic Synthesis.
Interpretations and Conclusions:
Instrumentation, Organic Synthesis, Organic Reactions and Organic Mechanisms have been identified as difficult in by second level teachers and pupils in this study, as well as in other Irish studies ( Childs & Sheehan 2009, Childs & O’ Dwyer, 2010). It is clear that these are among the main topics that need addressing in designing new teaching materials.
Other topics to be addressed include structural formulae, functional groups, characteristics of organic compounds and laboratory work.
It is intended to develop evidence-based teaching materials applicable for Leaving Certificate Chemistry pupils, as well as third level students with no prior experience of Chemistry. Through the implementation and evaluation of intervention programme, designed to accommodate for both the teachers’ and learners’ needs, this project will integrate the research and practice of Chemical Education in improving the teaching and learning of Organic Chemistry.
References:
Bhattacharyya G., & Bodner, G.M., (2005),“It gets me to the product”: How students propose organic mechanisms. Journal of Chemical Education, 82,1402-1407.
Childs P.E. & O’Dwyer A., (2010), A preliminary investigation of Irish students’ difficulties with Organic Chemistry at third level, presented at ECRICE Conference 4-8 July 2010, Abstract available at: http://ecrice2010.ap.krakow.pl/pliki/ecrice.pdf
Childs, P. E. and Sheehan, M. (2010) 'Does the Irish Education system produce pupils who can think?', Presented at BCCE 2010, Texas; submitted for publication.,
Childs, P.E. & Sheehan, M., (2009), What’s difficult about chemistry? An Irish perspective. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 10, 204-218.
Ferguson R. & Bodner G.M. (2008), Making sense of the arrow-pushing formalism among chemistry majors enrolled in organic chemistry. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 9,102-113.
Johnstone, A.H., (2006), Chemical Education research in Glasgow in perspective. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 7, 49-63.
Nash, J. G., Liotta, L. J. and Bravaco, R. J. (2000) 'Measuring conceptual change in Organic Chemistry', Journal of Chemical Education, 77(3), 333-337.
Shayer, M., Ginsburg, D. and Coe, R. (2007) 'Thirty year on- a large anti-Flynn effect? The Piagetian test volume and heaviness norms 1975-2003', British Journal of Educational Psychology, 77, 25-41.
Stamovlasis, D. and Tsaparlis, G. (2000) 'Non-liniear analysis of the effect of Working Memory Capacity on Organic Synthesis Problem Solving', Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 1(3), 375-380.