Abstract:
This study assesses the difficulties that students have when naming inorganic compounds by
IUPAC nomenclature. It uses a cross-sectional survey comprised of both quantitative and
qualitative methods. The sample for the study consisted of 334 elective science Senior
Secondary School (SSS 3) students in 2008/2009 academic year. Students were drawn from
all schools offering elective science in the New Juaben Municipality of the Eastern Region of
Ghana in that year. Of the sample population, 252 students were male and 82 were female
with a mean age of 17 years and a standard deviation of 1.8 years. The instruments used for
data collection were an achievement test and an interview. Some of the key findings include:
students’ inability to write the correct names of certain elements in compounds, students’
inability to determine the central atom in compounds, students’ inability to determine or
calculate the oxidation numbers of central atoms in compounds, students’ inability to write
the correct names of radicals, and students’ lack of knowledge about valency. This study
recommends that teachers pay particular attention to assisting students in locating central
atoms of compounds and hence calculating their oxidation numbers. This study also
recommended that chemistry teachers focus more intently on helping students to name
radicals correctly.
