CONNECTIONS INVOLVING THE USE OF CHEMICAL LANGUAGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF REDUCTION-OXIDATION REACTION

Understanding submicroscopic level, which requires in-depth chemistry knowledge, is difficult for students. The sample of the research consisted of 32 students, who performed a teaching-learning sequence of two electrochemical reactions. Eight of them were videotaped and their speech was transcribed and analyzed. The results indicated that students who used more chemical terms improved their understanding of the submicroscopic level. Talking more, in this case, showed no relation to learning directed to an instrumental understanding (focus on how). The use of more chemical terms enabled them to grasp a relational understanding (focus on why) and the predictive ability of new chemical phenomena.