Should we teach primary pupils about chemical change?

George Papageorgiou (1) , Maria Grammaticopoulou (2) , Phil Michael Johnson (3)

1 Department of Primary education
2 Department of Primary education
3 School of Education

Thirty six pupils from three 6th grade classes (ages 11/12, n=75) in Greece were interviewed pre and post intervention in a piece of research on explanations of chemical phenomena. Software concerning chemical phenomena was incorporated in a teaching scheme, where the particle theory was used. After 13 hours intervention, pupils' explanations were categorized in five discrete categories. Only a few pupils could give satisfactory explanations, involving the integration of particle ideas at the level of atoms. The idea of chemical change seemed to be very difficult for the majority of pupils. Implications for the teaching of chemical phenomena at young ages are discussed.

Mots clés: Social Sciences & Humanities

George Papageorgiou, Maria Grammaticopoulou, Phil Michael Johnson. Should we teach primary pupils about chemical change?. International Journal of Science Education, 2010, 32 (12), pp.1647-1664. ⟨10.1080/09500690903173650⟩. ⟨hal-00608034⟩