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Mozambican Preservice Chemistry Teachers’ Performance when Analysing Textbook Analogies About the Atom

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Abstract

Chemistry students should learn not only the key concepts and processes of the discipline but also how they arise, are established, and develop over time. Undergraduate programs for chemistry teachers seldom include training in the history of chemistry to prepare future teachers to put concepts in a historical context. In schools, atom and atomic structure are usually related to the history of chemistry. Most textbooks introduce the atomic models through historical analogies, which are often partly implicit or inaccurate. Chemistry teachers need to deal the best they can with textbooks and the analogies they include. This study aims to determine whether Mozambican preservice chemistry teachers attending the final year of their undergraduate chemistry teacher education program can assess the potential and limitations of analogies about the atom that are included in secondary school chemistry textbooks of their home country. Seventeen preservice chemistry teachers from two Mozambican universities were interviewed on two analogies in school textbooks. Results suggest that interviewees could not identify the limitations of the analogies, possibly because of their lack of knowledge of both analogies as an educational tool and the historical evolution of the models for the atom. Using analogies for teaching should be included in Chemical Education courses, and selected history of chemistry issues should be introduced in undergraduate teacher education programs, from both historical content and methodological points of view. Including these issues would better equip preservice teachers to deal with historical analogical models of the atom when they become professional teachers.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the preservice teachers that participated in the research, as well as to the colleagues that facilitated their participation.

Funding

Pedagogic University and Licungo University, Mozambique, granted a scholarship to the 1st author that allowed him to carry out a doctorate that includes this research. CIEd—Research Centre on Education, Institute of Education, University of Minho [grant numbers UIDB/01661/2020 and UIDP/01661/2020] supported the 2nd author to participate in this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Science and Technology, University Licungo, Beira, Mozambique

    José Arão

  2. Institute of Education, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

    Laurinda Leite

  3. University Púnguè, Chimoio, Manica, Mozambique

    Emília Nhalevilo

Authors
  1. José Arão
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  2. Laurinda Leite
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  3. Emília Nhalevilo
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. The three authors prepared the research material, data collection was done by José Arão, data analysis was performed by José Arão, and commented for improvements by Laurinda Leite. All the authors collaborated in the writing of sections of the manuscript, which Laurinda Leite brought together. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to José Arão.

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Ethics Approval

By the time of data collection, there were no formal ethics approval requirements in Mozambique for conducting research with adult humans.

Informed Consent

Following good practices, participants in the study were informed about its aims, and ensured anonymity and confidentiality of the data. Those that accepted to participate were informed that only the person that conducted the interviews would have access to the audio recording and that they could drop out at any time, without any kind of penalty.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Arão, J., Leite, L. & Nhalevilo, E. Mozambican Preservice Chemistry Teachers’ Performance when Analysing Textbook Analogies About the Atom. Sci & Educ (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-023-00473-0

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