Development and application of suitable criteria for the evaluation of chemical representations in school textbooks

Abstract

The study of Chemistry deals essentially with three types of chemical representations: macro, submicro, and symbolic. Research has consistently shown that students experience difficulties in understanding and interpreting the representations, in making translations between different types of representations, and in constructing them. In this study, we conducted a detailed review of existing presuppositions that define what Chemical Representations are to be included in school textbooks for the purpose of enhancing the student’s understanding of Chemistry. We then conducted a detailed analysis of the Chemical Representations included in five Chemistry textbooks. The detailed analysis revealed five criteria for the evaluation of chemical representation used in school textbooks. These criteria (C1-C5) are: (C1) the type of the representation; (C2) the interpretation of the surface features; (C3) their relationship to the text; (C4) the existence and the properties of a caption; (C5) the degree of correlation between the components comprising a multiple representation. The utility of the proposed criteria was then checked against a 10th-grade Greek chemistry textbook. The five criteria cover the basic elements required for a better utilization of chemical representations in the understanding of Chemistry. The five criteria can also be used for the analysis of existing school textbooks and as an authoring tool in designing new Chemistry textbooks.