AN IN-DEPTH STUDY OF MISCONCEPTIONS IN STOICHIOMETRY AND CHEMICAL-EQUILIBRIUM AT A SOUTH-AFRICAN UNIVERSITY

An investigation into the attempts of Chemistry I students at the Univ ersity of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, to answer que stions in an examination involving stoichiometry and chemical equilibr ium revealed that the majority of the students do not fully understand either concept. These results are in line with studies carried out in other countries and it seems that the main difficulty with these topi cs is that they are highly abstract and first taught to students befor e they have reached the stage of formal operational thought. Concrete examples (not open to misinterpretation) need to be used when these to pics are first introduced to students, and cooperative learning in sma ll groups should be encouraged to give students an opportunity to iden tify and remediate their misconceptions in a nonthreatening environmen t.