Educators’ reflections on the teaching and learning of the periodic table of elements at the upper secondary level: a case study

Abstract

Abstract It is an undeniable fact that the periodic table is an essential tool for both chemists and chemistry students, as it represents all presently known 118 elements, their properties and the trends in their properties. It is reported to be “… a rather holistic and all-inclusive aspect of chemistry…” (Scerri E. Explaining the Periodic Table, and the role of chemical triads. Found Chem 2010;12:69–83) and an understanding of the periodic table lays the foundation for effective learning of chemistry. However, it is also reported that students find the topic challenging and educators find the topic difficult to teach. Thus, an attempt is made in this study to allow educators to reflect on the challenges encountered in teaching and learning of the periodic table and related concepts at the secondary level. This study reports chemistry educators’ reflection on the teaching and learning of the periodic table at the secondary school level in Mauritius. Data was collected through a questionnaire, which included both open- and close ended questions pertaining to the teaching and learning of chemistry. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data through the lens of the constructivist learning framework. The results indicate that the major barriers for adopting constructivist practices when teaching the periodic table are inadequate educators’ knowledge of students’ alternate conceptions and knowledge of how students learn the periodic table as a classification system. The findings from this study inform how to improve the teaching and learning of the periodic table from a constructivist viewpoint. Thus, through this study, it is expected that enhancing educators’ pedagogical content knowledge of the periodic table could potentially help overcome students’ challenges of learning periodic table.