THE USE OF A MATRIX DESIGNED TO ENHANCE STUDENTS´ UNDERSTANDING OF MOLECULAR POLARITY

摘要: The relationship between structure and properties has long been regarded as a fundamental concept in science and engineering. However, students face conceptual difficulties when trying to understand this connection. This is even more apparent when the substance is a molecule. The process to predict its properties involves a series of steps and chemical concepts, starting from electron configuration and going through chemical bond, molecular geometry, polarity, etc that are not obvious for many students. The main goal of this work was to improve the understanding of the relationship between molecular structure and polarity (and therefore properties) and to foster teamwork skills. A learning resource was designed by one of the authors. It consists of a matrix worksheet, which includes all the steps and required concepts to move from electron configuration of atoms to molecular polarity. It is divided into different …