Classification of Chemical Susbtances, Reactions, and Interactions: The Effect of Expertise Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Stains, Marilyne Nicole Olivia Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 06/10/2021 03:38:08 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/194835 CLASSIFICATION OF CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES, REACTIONS, AND INTERACTIONS: THE EFFECT OF EXPERTISE by Marilyne Nicole Olivia Stains A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2007 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Marilyne N. O. Stains entitled Classification of Chemical Substances, Reactions and Interactions: The Effect of Expertise and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 04/06/2007 Vicente A. Talanquer _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 04/06/2007 G. Krishna Vemulapalli _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 04/06/2007 Andrei Sanov _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 04/06/2007 Ingrid Novodvorsky _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 04/06/2007 Bruce P. Johnson Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. ________________________________________________ Date: 04/06/2007 Dissertation Director: Vicente A. Talanquer 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: Marilyne N. Stains 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to first acknowledge my dad Gérard who has been very supportive even though he has a hard time not having his daughter close to him. Even if he still wonders when I will stop being a student, start working and collect social security money for my retirement, he is very proud of what I have accomplished and makes sure to tell everybody at home. My husband Cliff, a biochemist, is undeniably the most important person in my life and he has been unbelievably great during this PhD. He has encouraged me when I wanted to quit and brought me back down to Earth when I was arrogant. He has a great deal of respect for what I do even if he always teases me that it’s not REAL science! Last but not least, it’s pretty obvious that I would not be writing this dissertation if I did not have Dr Talanquer as my advisor. Vicente has been extremely understanding and supportive. He is a great advisor and mentor, who has high expectations for his students. He has pretty much taught me everything I know. Thank you Vicente for everything and I hope that we will keep working together. 5 DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my lovely mom, Yolande who passed away in the middle of this PhD adventure. She is the reason why I persevered in my education. She always told me “if you want to do something, you can do it; nothing is impossible!” I have used that philosophy all my life. I wish she could have seen this dissertation; I’m sure she would have been trying to translate it and understand it with her little English dictionary! This is for you, mom. Cette dissertation est dédiée à ma très chère maman qui est décédée au milieu de cette aventure. Elle est la raison pour laquelle j’ai persévéré dans mes études. Elle m’a toujours dit «si tu veux faire quelque chose, tu peux le faire ; rien n’est impossible !» J’ai suivi cette philosophie toute ma vie. J’aurais aimé qu’elle voit cette thèse ; je suis sûre qu’elle aurait essayé de la traduire et de la comprendre avec son petit dictionnaire d’anglais ! C’est pour toi, maman. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES......................................................................................8 LIST OF TABLES......................................................................................10 ABSTRACT.................................................................................................11 CHAPTER I: THE RATIONALE.............................................................13 Classification in Science........................................................................................13 Levels of Representation in Chemistry..................................................................14 The Study of Expertise in Science and Chemical Education.................................16 Research on Student Thinking in Science.............................................................19 Classification of Chemical Substances, Processes and Interactions......................20 CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK..................................22 Organization of Knowledge: the Domain Approach.............................................23 Common-sense Reasoning and Misconceptions....................................................26 Classification..........................................................................................................29 CHAPTER III: PROJECT DESIGN........................................................39 Context of the Studies............................................................................................40 Participants.............................................................................................................40 Limitations.............................................................................................................42 CHAPTER IV: CLASSIFICATION OF CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES.............................................................................................45 Details of the Methodology...................................................................................46 Results and Discussion..........................................................................................52 Conclusions............................................................................................................68 CHAPTER V: CLASSIFICATION OF CHEMICAL REACTIONS....72 Details of the Methodology...................................................................................72 Results....................................................................................................................81 Conclusions and Implications for Science Teaching and Learning.....................106 CHAPTER VI: CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS AND FUTURE WORK........................................................................................................112 Acquisition of Expertise......................................................................................112 Characteristics of Novices and Experts...............................................................113 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS - continued Implications..........................................................................................................116 Future Work.........................................................................................................119 APPENDIX A: Classification of chemical substances: the questionnaire and interview protocols.............................................................................122 APPENDIX B: Example of an interview transcript of a participant in the study “classification of chemical substances”...................................127 APPENDIX C: The interview protocol of the “classification of chemical reactions” study.........................................................................................134 APPENDIX D: Interview transcripts of prototypical novice, intermediate and expert students from the study “classification of chemical reactions”...................................................................................137 APPENDIX E: Interview protocol for the classification of chemical substances based on their intermolecular forces....................................153 APPENDIX F: Human subject approval letter......................................156 APPENDIX G: Consent form..................................................................157 REFERENCES..........................................................................................160 8 LIST