La necesidad de un cambio metodológico en la enseñanza del equilibrio químico: limitaciones del principio de Le Chatelier

Abstract

This paper studies the didactic approach used in teaching Le Chatelier's Principle, showing that its usual formulation is ambiguous, and reports the way Chemistry textbooks use this principle in some specific cases with no mention of its limitations. The second part of this work analyses the strategies carried out by chemistry teachers when dealing with a specific equilibrium problem. It is shown how the usual methodology practised in both cases may lead to very important misconceptions, so a new methodological performance is proposed to achieve a real significative learning.