ERIC Number: EJ1458683
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024-Feb
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0021-9584
EISSN: EISSN-1938-1328
Available Date: N/A
How Do Inorganic Students Represent Molecular Orbitals? A Multi-Institutional Study from the Foundation-Level Inorganic Chemistry Course
Barbara A. Reisner; Melissa M. Kinkaid; Justin M. Pratt; Anne K. Bentley; Joanne L. Stewart; Sheila R. Smith; Jeffrey R. Raker; Shirley Lin
Journal of Chemical Education, v101 n2 p456-466 2024
This investigation of student and instructor representations of molecular orbitals (MOs) uses the knowledge from a community of practice to build collective pedagogical content knowledge of student understanding of molecular orbital representations in the foundation-level inorganic chemistry course. Participants were asked to sketch the bonding and antibonding MOs of a lithium hydride molecule. The student-generated images of MOs were analyzed and characterized according to five criteria: the atomic orbitals chosen, the sign of the wavefunction, the relative contribution of the atomic orbitals to the molecular orbitals, the overlap of atomic orbitals, and the shape of the MOs. While most students correctly chose a basis set and accurately represented the sign of the wavefunction for the MOs, they were less successful at sketching the relative contribution of the atomic orbitals to the molecular orbitals, the overlap of atomic orbitals, and the shape of the MOs. Students have an incomplete understanding of the information encoded in MO sketches and may not attribute meaning to these pictures in the same way that instructors may. These results suggest that instructors need to help students develop representational competence in order to achieve a more expert-like understanding of MO representations and to connect these depictions to the properties of molecules.
Descriptors: Chemistry, Science Education, Scientific Concepts, Molecular Structure, Introductory Courses, Communities of Practice, Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Visual Aids, Freehand Drawing
Division of Chemical Education, Inc. and ACS Publications Division of the American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 800-227-5558; Tel: 202-872-4600; e-mail: eic@jce.acs.org; Web site: http://pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A