AN ANALYSIS OF THE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ABILITIES TO READ REALISTIC, CONVENTIONAL, AND HYBRID IMAGES IN GENERAL CHEMISTRY

This research considered students' abilities to read images about dispersed systems, taken from the chemistry textbook. 103 high school students (37 males, 63 females, and 3 unknown) from the school “Svetozar Marković“ in Novi Sad, Republic of Serbia, were included as the research participants. Students' abilities to suggest the titles of the realistic, conventional, and hybrid textbook images about dispersed systems, as well as their written interpretations of images contents, were examined. The collected data were analysed qualitatively, and information about students' conceptual understandings and misunderstandings about selected chemistry topic was provided. Identified misunderstandings, some of which are the contribution of this research, gave significant results. Additionally, it was concluded that the majority of students' difficulties were related to reading realistic textbook images. Students relied on what they literally saw in the photography without making proper connections with chemical contents about dispersed systems. The findings of the present research could be helpful for science teachers and educators, interested in how and why students use textbook images to learn science concepts. They will also alert authors and textbook illustrators to pay more attention to the selection of appropriate textbook images.