Chemical Information Literacy: pKa Values—Where Do Students Go Wrong?

• Alison B. Flynn ^[1] ; Delphine G. Amellal ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Ottawa

     University of Ottawa

     Canadá

     
• Localización: Journal of chemical education, ISSN 0021-9584, Vol. 93, Nº 1, 2016, págs. 39-45
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Chemical information literacy is an essential skillset for navigating, evaluating, and using the wealth of print and online information. Accordingly, efforts are underway to improve students’ acquisition and mastery of this skillset. However, less is known about students’ abilities related to finding and using chemical information to solve problems. We studied students’ abilities in one area of chemical information literacy: finding, estimating, and using pKa values in organic acid–base problems. We identified areas of student difficulty related to these skills, implemented instruction aligned with desired learning outcomes, and then studied students’ success rates after instruction. Our results revealed improvements in some areas but not in others. In particular, students still struggled when the desired information was not directly available in the literature (i.e., data had to be estimated) or when students had to use the information in more complex contexts.