Undergraduate pre-service teachers' understandings and misconceptions of phase equilibrium

Abstract

Some 59 pre-service chemistry teachers enrolled in physical chemistry course offered by the faculty of education at a public university in Turkey were sampled to determine possible misunderstandings about phase equilibrium concepts that are held by pre-service chemistry teachers after instruction. The topics of state changes, solutions, vapor pressure and Raoult's law, colligative properties, and phase diagrams, under the heading phase equilibrium were covered over a six-week period. To determine students' understandings and identify their misunderstandings, an eight-question phase equilibrium concept test was administered five days after the topics covered have been taught. Through analysis of the students' test responses, 18 distinct misunderstandings were identified. Some of the misunderstandings underscore the fact that although most students are successful in solving algorithmic problems, they often fail in solving the conceptual problems.