112470 20240122154815.0 doi 10.22201/fq.18708404e.2022.2.79895 sideral 128544 ART-2022-128544 eng Cascarosa Salillas, María Esther Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0002-3696-7673 Analysis of the mental model about the atom concept in Spanish 15- to 18- years old students 2022 Access copy available to the general public Unrestricted The present research investigates the mental models about the atom of Spanish 15- to 18- years old students. A sample of 454 students was taken into account within a representative Spanish context. A specific questionnaire, validated before students solved it, where the students should draw, define and argue was designed. It has been found that most of the students understand the atom as a mix of several models. In general, the models they mix are those that they studied during their last educational course. Some students possess a unique mental model about the atom (Bohr´s model), and a really few students described the atom as it could be expected according to their educational level. Several reasons have been appointed among them are: i) the construction of a mental model is a hard and slow process, even more in the case of the atom, ii) this is a complex concept which requires abstraction and to use spatial knowledge in very young students, and iii) teachers offer to students few situations to check their mental models, and thus, it takes so much time to find the strengths and weaknesses of their models. info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess by-nc-nd http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/ 0.182 2022 Chemistry (miscellaneous) 2022 Q4 Education 2022 Q4 0.4 2022 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Pozuelo Muñoz, Jorge Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0002-9223-6832 Jiménez, Mercedes Fenández Álvarez, Francisco J. Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0002-0497-1969 2010 760 Universidad de Zaragoza Dpto. Química Inorgánica Área Química Inorgánica 4013 205 Universidad de Zaragoza Dpto. Didácticas Específicas Área Didáctica Ciencias Exper. 33, 2 (2022), 181-193 Educ. quím. Educacion Quimica 0187-893X 715726 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/112470/files/texto_completo.pdf Versión publicada 2338265 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/112470/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon icon Versión publicada oai:zaguan.unizar.es:112470 articulos driver 2024-01-22-15:39:53 ARTICLE