"The molecules are inside the atoms": Students' personal external representations of matter

Abstract

An understanding of students' external representations of their internal representations of matter is important for the further development of visual representations used as teaching tools. Therefore, we examined undergraduate students' personal external representations of matter. Fourteen undergraduates enrolled in general chemistry courses were interviewed about their drawings of matter in the solid, liquid, and gas phases. Data indicated that students spontaneously drew four different types of representations. We have developed rubrics for our classifications of students' representations based on their drawings. Implications of visual representations in teaching will also be discussed. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.