Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

Misconceptions in science pose a significant challenge for both students and teachers, as many students accept what their teachers say as true, and textbooks can also contribute to misunderstandings. This study aimed to identify students’ perceptions of gas behavior and properties through a 60-minute diagnostic test. The sample consisted of 142 10th-grade students from a school for developing exceptional talents in Iran. The test, comprising six multiple-choice and three open-ended questions, was validated by chemistry experts and demonstrated high inter-rater reliability. It assessed students’ understanding of interparticle forces in the gas phase, the relationship between kinetic energy and gas pressure, and the nature and interactions of gas particles. The results showed that most students answered the questions incorrectly. Analyzing their explanations revealed several misconceptions, particularly regarding particulate-level concepts. Furthermore, misconceptions can be considered a form of prior knowledge, embedded within a framework of logic and justification, even if they contradict established scientific understanding.

Balancing chemical equations, a cornerstone of chemistry, has driven the development of various methods, including the algebraic Gauss-Jordan method and computational software. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of the algebraic Gauss-Jordan method and computational software as a tool for balancing chemical equations. A simplified manual method and a computer program that provides additional information are proposed, without neglecting the importance of optimizing learning time. The article describes the use of the Gauss-Jordan method for balancing chemical equations, compared to other methods such o trial and error and the vector method. The software WolframAlpha, EBAS-equation balancer®, and Matlab are presented for automatic equation balancing, highlighting the importance of teaching and learning equation balancing in the training of university students.

Scientific thinking skills are fundamental for scientific understanding, allowing students to solve problems. This article sought to develop the practice of argumentation in secondary school’ students related to Science III (Chemistry). This practice makes it possible to develop oral and written communication; it also allows high-level thought processes since it is necessary to build reasoned explanations about a phenomenon. Experimental and reading comprehension activities were designed to help them identify the elements that constitute an argument according to Toulmin’s argumentation diagram. The results show that students need more discipline and reading comprehension skills to practice argumentation. Argumentation is a complex activity that teachers need to develop from an early age.

The objective of this integrative experiment is to apply the knowledge acquired about nanomaterials, highlighting their relevance in water remediation. In the first stage, students are encouraged to use previously studied tools for material characterization, such as infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. The latter allows students to identify the TiO₂ phases reported in the literature and compare them with their own diffraction pattern. Subsequently, the degradation of a contaminant is evaluated through photocatalysis, repeating the experiment with three different photocatalyst concentrations to analyze the influence of TiO₂ on the process. Finally, students are expected to propose a viable method for contaminant degradation, based on experimental results and literature references. This practice aims to foster critical thinking and interest in research on a topic with significant environmental impact.

In 2024, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Demis Hassabis, John M. Jumper, and David Baker for their contributions to computational protein folding prediction and design. Their advancements have enabled faster and more efficient study of the functions of these biological molecules, which perform the heavy lifting in living organisms. Composed of 20 different amino acids arranged in variable sequences, each protein folds into one or more structures based on its sequence, which determines its cellular function. Although the amino acid sequence encodes the final shape, the code has not been fully deciphered, and determining the structure requires experimental techniques that are labor-intensive, expensive, and not infallible. Genomics has revealed over 200 million natural amino acid sequences, yet Structural Biology has resolved only about 220,000 structures. Today, the gap has narrowed, thanks to the development of powerful Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools by the laureates. These breakthroughs have brought benefits to the advancement of Medicine, Pharmacology, Biotechnology, and other fields. In Mexico and the rest of Latin America, there are active researchers in the field, and the future looks promising.

Understanding the impact of using laboratories on learning is fundamental when planning experimental activities that foster student learning. To this end, the implementation of a “dry” laboratory is presented, in which, in an organic chemistry course, molecules are modeled through computational chemistry to visualize and understand different topics associated with the course development through reactivity indices and the electronic nature of matter. . From the implementation, students were able to use specific software that allowed them to model organic molecules along with electronic properties of interest for the course development. A high interest in the methodology was evidenced from the teachers’ observations and positive learning experiences, measured through an adaptation of the Meaningful Learning in the Laboratory Instrument (MLLI).

The contents related to physical and chemical changes present learning difficulties associated with the levels of knowledge involved in their identification. It is essential to consider the recommendations present in the bibliography to help the student understand the nature of both types of changes. With the aim of promoting the development of the student’s competence in the identification and modeling of physical and chemical changes, a sequence of activities has been designed that has been implemented in the second year of Compulsory Secondary Education. The learning difficulties posed by the contents present in the proposal have been useful as a starting point for the design of the activities, so that the objective set in each of them was intended to help the students overcome them. Specifically, they mainly referred to two aspects. On the one hand, the contents of change and chemical change and, on the other, the lack of physical understanding of the three levels of interpretation of matter and the relationships that exist between them. The results show that the proposal allows improvement in all aspects evaluated, which is why it is essential for the teaching of chemistry.

Learning redox reactions is fundamental in general chemistry courses, yet it is often taught in a traditional manner, which can make comprehension difficult for students. This study proposes a didactic strategy based on using scenes from the popular Japanese series Dr. Stone in a university-level general chemistry course, aiming to facilitate the teaching and learning of redox reactions and their real-life applications. The methodology involved group activities in which students watched anime scenes illustrating various redox reactions and answered questions related to the scientific concepts involved. The results suggest that this strategy increases student motivation and engagement, improves understanding of redox concepts, and allows linking theory with practical applications. Implementing Dr. Stone as a teaching resource demonstrates that audiovisual materials can complement traditional instruction, making learning more meaningful and engaging for chemistry students.

Due to the lockdown between 2020-2021 caused by the pandemic COVID-19, online mode learning was suddenly implemented at all levels of Chilean education, and in 2022, educational establishments returned to face-to-face mode, with concern about students’ academic performance. Stoichiometry is a complex subject to teach due to the abstract thinking needed, and especially for first-year undergraduate students, could be a challenge due to solving problems they must organize data, and use a logical sequence to give a correct answer. Using a table to order data, and a flowchart to give a logical sequence of thinking, we support students in stoichiometry in solving problems with an increase in their academic performance. An improvement in stoichiometric problem-solving performance was observed from 3% to 58%.

The Le Châtelier Principle (LCP), widely used to explain chemical equilibrium in chemistry education, has been criticized for its supposed lack of thermodynamic foundation. Despite this, it continues to appear in textbooks as a useful qualitative tool. This article examines its validity through a numerical analysis of ammonia synthesis under different conditions (constant or variable temperature, pressure, and volume), using experimental data and computational tools.