La teoría cinética molecular y el aprendizaje de la Química

In this work our investigations concerns the students' alternative conceptions on the structure of matter as they arrive to a dynamical particle interactive system (something that entails to accept a microscopic model through which macroscopic properties can be explained), and to what degree and way these conceptions are modified by further instruction. In order to achieve this, some questionnaires were applied to students and their answers were statistically processed. The alternative conceptions are compared through middle school up to the first two years College Chemistry. This study shows the great resistance to extinction of certain alternative conceptions that remain “immune” to the teaching process, still at the university level. In the study the peculiar difficulties of science learning - an particularly those for chemistry learning - are considered, such as those mentioned by Nersessian (1992), who writes that a substantial part of the bibliography considers that after pupils have studied physics, including those that have learnt to accomplish exercises, have not learnt “the conceptual scientific structure of this science”. Something very similar occurs in the learning of chemistry.