Quantitative chemistry teaching and learning at the high school level: A case study in Thailand

Abstract

Quantitative chemistry has a considerable importance in chemistry curricula both in the high school and university levels. Research suggested that students faced difficulty in learning quantitative chemistry and that the concepts were difficult to teach. This study was designed to indicate how students learn and how teacher teach quantitative chemistry in Thai high schools, and explore Thai high school students' attitudes toward quantitative chemistry learning. There were 603 students and 53 teachers that participated in the study. The Quantitative Chemistry Learning Questionnaires (QCLQ) were used as a data collection instrument, one for teachers, and another for students. The results indicated that both students and teachers agreed that the curriculum focused more on conceptual understanding rather than problem solving. However, in teaching quantitative chemistry, the teachers focused more on teaching how to solve algorithmic problems rather than teaching the concepts, and they did not often let students do experiments which students like the most. When solving algorithmic problems, students preferred to the use of formulae method rather than using proportional method that most teachers taught. Students thought that quantitative chemistry was difficult to learn and only about a quarter of the students liked to study it. The three topics that students felt most difficult were stoichiometry, acid-base, and rate of the reactions. The possible effective strategies for teaching quantitative chemistry from students' views were also discussed. © Common Ground, Chanyah Dahsah, Tussatrin Kruatong.