Central scientific concepts in chemistry education—Does a cumulative development of conceptual competences take place?

Abstract

Knowledge about chemical phenomena and an understanding of the basic concepts and principles of chemistry are among the key objectives of school chemistry education. For this purpose, administrative educational documents are increasingly structured by means of central subject-specific concepts or scientific practices, which are to form the focus of teaching activities in class. The aim of the present study is to investigate the extent to which a development of students’ competences with regard to the basic concepts of chemistry (chemical reaction, energy, matter) can be assessed over the school years 9 to 12 and which interrelation emerges between the different concept areas over time. The findings are considered to indicate the extent to which there are coherent and cumulative learning opportunities that could ultimately lead to a systematic and cumulative development of the students’ competences in each of the concepts. However, with regard to the results, it seems that there are only minor effects in terms of both gains in students’ competences and interrelations between the three concept areas. In addition, the results indicate that not all three concepts areas are in focus of teaching throughout the four-year time span, but there rather is a shift in focus between two concepts, while hardly any development or interrelation was found in the third concept area.