Constructing Active Learning in Chemistry: Concepts, Cognition and Conceptions

Abstract

For that reason Taber in this chapter entitled “Constructing active learning in chemistry: concepts, cognition and conceptions” argues that all meaningful learning is ‘active’ in the sense that the learner actively (although not necessarily consciously) links new learning with, and interprets teaching through, existing ways of making sense of the world. It follows then that conceptual learning in chemistry is iterative. Sound foundations in the subject support progression in understanding; but, equally, alternative conceptions (ideas at odds with the scientific models) support the misconceiving of teaching. Teaching can be misunderstood when the learner’s existing understanding does not match the prerequisite knowledge assumed in the teacher’s presentation. A range of different categories of ‘learning impediment’ may result, when learners either fail to make the intended links with prior learning, or form idiosyncratic links with existing ideas that seem relevant from the student’s perspective. An engaging chemistry teacher, who provides students with a range of relevant learning activities, will inevitably produce active learning in the sense of the mental construction of new knowledge. The first chapter of this book for these reasons offers an outline of constructivist thinking about learning, and presents a classification of the main types of learning impediments that misdirect learning.