Alternative conceptions of thermo chemistry concepts among secondary school students in Algeria

Abstract

The aim of this study was to diagnose alternative conceptions related to the concepts of thermo chemistry among secondary school students in Algeria, through a test of (35) questions distributed in four main fields, the test was applied to (144) students of the second year secondary school in the city of Chlef in the second semester of the academic year 2017/2018. The results showed that more than (60%) of the respondents have alternative conceptions about the concepts of thermo chemistry, and the average percentage of correct answers was about the field of heat (37,36%), the field of temperature (35,17%), the field of physical state change (38,86%), and the field of thermal equilibrium (32,54%). It was also found that there were no statistically significant differences at the level of significance (α ≤ 0,05) due to the gender variable. The study recommended the need to uncover the reasons behind these alternative conceptions carried by students, and reconsideration the curricula of the physical sciences