DIFFERENTIATION IN UNDERSTANDING OF CHEMICAL CONCEPTS: RELATIVE ATOMIC MASS AND MASS NUMBER

Učitelj kemije se srečuje z razlago pojmov, ki so del našega vsakdana in s pojmi, ki so abstraktnejši. Na vzorcu 25 dijakov smo s pomočjo fenomenografske raziskovalne metode ugotovili, kako dijaki razumejo abstraktna pojma relativna atomska masa in masno število. Zanimalo nas je, kakšno je razumevanje razlike med tema pojmoma. Ugotovili smo, da večina dijakov ni znala razložiti razlike med omenjenima proučevanima abstraktnima pojmoma. Pomen posameznih pojmov jim je bil dokaj razumljiv. Večje težave so dijaki imeli pri pojasnjevanju pojma relativna atomska masa. Na podlagi rezultatov smo nato pripravili didaktično strategijo poučevanja in učenja, ki bo dijakom v pomoč pri boljšem razumevanju razlike med tema pojmoma in učiteljem pri pravi te učne enote.A chemistry teacher is facing with the interpretation of terms that are a part of our everyday life and also with the concepts that are more abstract. In a sample of 25 students we used a phenomenographic research method to determine how the students understand the abstract concept of relative atomic mass and mass number. We were interested in understanding the differences between these concepts. We esthablished that most students could not explain the difference between above mentioned and studied abstract concepts. The meaning of individual terms was quite understandable. Students had major difficulties with explaining the concept of relative atomic mass. Based on the results, we then prepared a didactic teaching and learning strategy that will help students with better understanding of the differences between these concepts and to help teachers to prepare those kind of lessons