The Effects of Using Multiple Representations on Prospective Teachers’ Conceptual Understanding of Intermolecular Forces

Abstract

Abstract Intermolecular force is one of study material in Organic Chemistry I course, which involves numerous representations. This study aimed to find out the effects of using multiple representations on prospective teacher’s conceptual understanding of intermolecular forces. The research method used in this study was a quasi-experiment. The research subjects were 56 second-semester chemistry education students batch 2017-2018 in Universitas Negeri Malang which enrolled in Organic Chemistry I course. The research subjects are grouped into two classes including experimental and control classes with 28 students each. The experimental class was taught with the multiple representations-based learning, while the control class was taught using an expository learning. The measuring instrument included 6 question items with three-tier test question type and a reliability of 0.639. The research result showed there was a positive effect on the use of multiple representations-based learning. This can be seen from the existence of a difference in experimental and control classes’ conceptual understanding. The conceptual understanding of intermolecular forces in the experimental class (mean 55.93) was higher compared to the control class (mean 36.96).