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Chemistry Education and Contributions from History and Philosophy of Science pp 125–141Cite as

Understanding Stoichiometry: Do Scientific Laws Help in Learning Science?

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Part of the book series: Science: Philosophy, History and Education ((SPHE))

Abstract

Stoichiometry is considered a difficult topic for students as understanding depends on various other topics, such as the particulate nature of matter, the concept of mole, Avogadro’s number, conservation of matter, balancing chemical equations, and the laws of definite and multiple proportions. Furthermore, according to A. Rocke, from the historical perspective, laws of definite and multiple proportions are nothing more than special cases of the law of equivalent proportions. This chapter reports the design of a teaching strategy based on a history and philosophy of science framework to facilitate high school students’ understanding of stoichiometry. Control group students received instruction in which the laws of definite and multiple proportions were defined as definitive and irrefutable and applied as algorithms. Experimental group students used a dialectic constructivist strategy based on the presentation of hypothetical experimental data, leading to cognitive conflicts and to a critical confrontation of different propositions. Based on the HPS framework (Giere and others), the instructor avoided defining the laws of definite and multiple proportions, unless the students themselves used these terms. Based on a posttest, results obtained revealed that experimental group students performed better than those in the control group, not only on the algorithmic problems but also on problems requiring conceptual understanding. It is concluded that if scientific laws are idealizations, then they do not describe the behavior of actual bodies and hence may not be very helpful in understanding the empirical world.

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  1. Epistemology of Science Group Department of Chemistry, Universidad de Oriente, Cumaná, Estado Sucre, Venezuela

    Mansoor Niaz

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Niaz, M. (2016). Understanding Stoichiometry: Do Scientific Laws Help in Learning Science?. In: Chemistry Education and Contributions from History and Philosophy of Science. Science: Philosophy, History and Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26248-2_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26248-2_5

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