Chemical reactions and social representations of students

Abstract

This research incorporates the concept of Social Representations to the study of common
sense ideas about chemical reactions held by students. The structure of the Social Representations in students of age 16 has been determined prior to addressing the subject in school. The paper considers the changes in the initial Social Representation which have taken place after teaching has been carried out by means of an organized teaching sequence implemented for this purpose. It is found that socially shared representations have an important incidence on the construction of the conceptual field of chemical change.