Proceedings of the 23rd International Academic Conference, Venice

HOW TO MAKE CHEMISTRY INTERESTING FOR ENGINEERING STUDENTS THROUGH INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY.

SANTIAGO ROJANO RAMOS, GEMA LÓPEZ GUERRERO, MARIA DEL MAR LÓPEZ GUERRERO

Abstract:

Chemistry is a subject many students prefer to avoid, even if they have an interest in science, because of its reputation for lowering grade point averages. However, it isn't as bad as it seems. Chemistry has a reputation as being a difficult subject to master, but there are steps you can take to improve your chances of success. The key to learning chemistry is to take responsibility for your own learning. No one can learn chemistry for you. If you want to be good at something, you have to practice it. If you review chemistry every day and work problems every day, you'll find a rhythm that will make it easier to retain the material and learn new concepts. Furthermore, in order to improve the Chemistry learning, it was thought that use of ICT could be very beneficial. In general, ICT can help to increase participation of students in the area and would improve the direct intervention of the students which motivates their learning. After it was identified student misconceptions and misinterpretation in Chemistry for engineering students as they are attempting to interpret and explain the chemical processes. Oxidation-reduction reactions were identified as one of the most difficult concept, following by solubility and formulation. The objective was to carry out a proposal for teaching contents of chemistry using didactic resources for virtual environment, the use of a simulation that lets students to construct useful mental models in redox reactions and videos in which could be possible to watch the reactions. The used ITC demonstrated that students significantly increased the number scientifically acceptable ideas in student´s conceptions of science due to the fact that the use of ITC has demonstrated that allows them to practise and improve their knowledge. On the other hand, with this type of learning we obtain some advantages as construct scientifically acceptable mental models of substances and reactions at the molecular level. The use of the simulation or videos can be helpful in improving problem solving. This encourages students to develop new ideas about science, and allows them to create a memory from viewing animations, leading to confirmation or modification of the existing mental model. Furthermore, it will be possible that the student use their models to understand new chemistry concepts that require a molecular level.

Keywords: ITC, Chemistry, Multimedia Application, Virtual Simulation, Redox Reactions

DOI: 10.20472/IAC.2016.023.078

PDF: Download



Copyright © 2024 The International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences, www.iises.net