HOW TO TEACH THE CONCEPT OF HEAT OF REACTION: A STUDY OF PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS' INITIAL IDEAS

Abstract

This paper presents a study of prospective teachers' initial knowledge of how to teach the energetics of chemical reactions. The research was designed as a naturalistic case-study. Fourteen prospective chemistry teachers were invited to individually prepare the first two lessons on the heat involved in reactions in solutions. The lessons were for grade 11 classes (age 16-17) from pre-university schools. The prospective teachers were not allowed to consult any textbook, but they were asked to incorporate two specific classroom experiments in their lesson plan. During a group meeting, the lesson plans were exchanged and discussed. Research data were obtained from audiotaped semi-structured interviews with the individual prospective teachers. In addition, their written lesson plans were collected and analysed. The group discussions were also audiotaped and analysed. The results reveal a number of interesting characteristics of prospective teachers' pedagogical content knowledge. Implications of the study for science teacher preparation courses will also be presented. [Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. Eur.: 2000, 1, 91-96]