Abstract:
Learning chemical concepts at the submicroscopic and symbolic levels has
been identified as a difficult task for science students. Studies have shown that IUPAC
nomenclature of organic compounds, which is at the symbolic level of learning chemical
concepts, is a difficult concept when it comes to students’ learning. The current study
involved a pre-service teacher and 60 high school students and investigated how students
could improve upon their performance in naming and writing of structural formulae of
hydrocarbons with the aid of ball-and-stick models. The pre-service teacher and the
students were purposively selected to participate in the study. After seven weeks of teaching
and learning of IUPAC naming and writing of structural formulae of hydrocarbons
where the students physically manipulated the models, it was found that the students’
performance and attitude improved after the intervention. It is therefore recommended
that science educators should continuously use already existing and newly developed
models in teaching chemical concepts to help students to actively conceptualise such
concepts at the symbolic level.
