Student Conceptions:
Driver et al. (1994) reviewed the research findings on student understanding of chemical changes:
A) Fizzing, exploding, changing color, and apparent changes in mass are readily used by students to recognize chemical change.
However, it is doubtful whether they interpret such evidence for substances changing into other substances.
B) The idea of reversibility helps students distinguish physical change from chemical change.
C) Students’ understanding deepens when they appreciate change at the particulate level.
Student Understandings:
For the POE lesson, students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of:
• Chemical changes as they occur during the reaction.
• The difference between a chemical and physical reaction.
• The variables indicating that a physical versus a chemical reaction has taken place.
• Carbon dioxide is released as gas when baking soda and vinegar are mixed.
• The release of carbon dioxide is evidence that a chemical reaction has taken place (i.e., similar to the C02 that is released as we exhale
as a rult of the chemical reactions that occur in our bodies when we breathe).
• Different size containers and differing amounts of substances produce slightly different results (e.g., The amount of bubbles, reaction
completion time, etc.).
• Effervescence is the evidence of a chemical change.
• There are many different indicators of chemical change, such as color change, gas given off, solid formed, and heat given off (Haysom
& Bowen, 2010, p. 242).
Driver et al. (1994) reviewed the research findings on student understanding of chemical changes:
A) Fizzing, exploding, changing color, and apparent changes in mass are readily used by students to recognize chemical change.
However, it is doubtful whether they interpret such evidence for substances changing into other substances.
B) The idea of reversibility helps students distinguish physical change from chemical change.
C) Students’ understanding deepens when they appreciate change at the particulate level.
Student Understandings:
For the POE lesson, students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of:
• Chemical changes as they occur during the reaction.
• The difference between a chemical and physical reaction.
• The variables indicating that a physical versus a chemical reaction has taken place.
• Carbon dioxide is released as gas when baking soda and vinegar are mixed.
• The release of carbon dioxide is evidence that a chemical reaction has taken place (i.e., similar to the C02 that is released as we exhale
as a rult of the chemical reactions that occur in our bodies when we breathe).
• Different size containers and differing amounts of substances produce slightly different results (e.g., The amount of bubbles, reaction
completion time, etc.).
• Effervescence is the evidence of a chemical change.
• There are many different indicators of chemical change, such as color change, gas given off, solid formed, and heat given off (Haysom
& Bowen, 2010, p. 242).