Malaysia Secondary Students' Conceptions about the Particulate Nature of Matter

Abstract

This paper was conducted to determine students’ conceptions about the particulate nature of matter (PNM) in daily life events. Five open ended questions from Nature of Matter-Diagnostic Questions (NMDQ) were used to collect the data through questionnaire survey. 32 secondary students were chosen through random sampling for this study. A qualitative and quantitative methodology was used for this investigation. The findings were analyses using descriptive statistics via Statistical Package in the Social Sciences (SPSS) and content analysis. The results showed that the type of conceptual understandings among the students on the submicroscopic level of matter were classified as alternative understanding with scientific fragments. They have alternative conceptions about the submicroscopic level of particles such as the arrangement and relative spacing between the particles in three states of matter, the movement of water particles and solid particles in a liquid and the movement and uniform distribution of liquid molecules in another liquid. Hence, this paper suggests that the instruction on the particulate nature of matter is needed in helping students making connections between the three levels which chemistry can both taught and understood. It is proposed that by emphasizing the three levels of chemistry in describing common, everyday phenomena to which students could relate would make the instruction more effective.