Understanding Students’ Misconceptions about Chemical Formula Writing and Naming Ionic Compounds

https://doi.org/10.55549/ijaste.15
747 447

Authors

Abstract

Difficulties in the competency of chemical formula writing and naming ionic compounds are common to General Chemistry 1 learners. Hence, this study is formulated to understand 34 General Chemistry 1 learners' misconceptions about chemical formula writing and naming ionic compounds. This descriptive case study research used a two-tier test and interview questionnaire as the main data-gathering instruments. From the conducted study, analysis shows that in terms of chemical formula writing, the learners misrepresent ionic compounds as charged species, show a lack of understanding of valency and the use of the cross-charge method, and mispresent radicals. In naming ionic compounds, the learners generally misname some of the elements found in binary ionic compounds and misname metal ions with more than 1 charge and polyatomic ions. These misconceptions were validated by the difficulties experienced by the learners in answering the two-tier test, as mentioned in their interviews. Despite the misconceptions and difficulties of the learners in chemical formula writing and naming ionic compounds, they mentioned several ways of addressing them.

Keywords:

Chemical Formula Writing, General Chemistry 1 Learners, Misconceptions, Naming ionic compounds

How to Cite

Deleña, R., & Marasigan, A. C. (2023). Understanding Students’ Misconceptions about Chemical Formula Writing and Naming Ionic Compounds. International Journal of Academic Studies in Technology and Education, 1(2), 156–173. https://doi.org/10.55549/ijaste.15

Access the Full-text

Published

12/14/2023

Issue

Section

Articles