The Role of Conceptual Integration in Understanding and Learning Chemistry

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Taber, K. S. (2015). The Role of Conceptual Integration in Understanding and Learning Chemistry. In J. García-Martínez & E. Serrano-Torregrosa (Eds.), Chemistry Education: Best Practices, Opportunities and Trends (pp. 375-394): Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.

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Summary

Conceptual integration – that is, being able to relate different concepts within a coherent overall structure – can be understood to be important in the learning of science subjects from two quite different perspectives. From the perspective of the theory of learning, the linking of concepts within current understanding is considered to facilitate further learning and later accessing of that learning: the learner with a well‐integrated conceptual framework for a subject will tend to be an effective learner in that subject. In addition, conceptual integration within the sciences can be seen to reflect the nature of science (NOS) itself. Within science subjects, learning about NOS itself is increasingly considered a central curricular aim. In science, coherence between theories and the subsuming of concepts under a limited number of key principles are highly valued, and science education should reflect and represent such values. In this regard, the nature of chemistry offers particular challenges. One particular issue in chemistry education is helping students to relate ideas about the submicroscopic realm of molecules, ions, and electrons to the macroscopic description of the subject. In addition, the nature of much chemical knowledge is in the form of typologies, categorizations, and models, which often seem to the learner to be offering distinct alternative descriptions (such as different definitions of acids, different models of atomic structure, etc.)