Assessing 15-year-olds’ understanding of chemical concepts in the context of the lithosphere and pedosphere

Ribič, Luka (author), Devetak, Iztok (author), Slapničar, Miha (author)

The aim of this study was to determine the understanding of environmental chemistry content related to lithosphere and pedosphere, such as soil and soil types, soil horizons, rock and rock types, weathering, minerals, coal, and soil erosion, and to investigate misconceptions among 9th grade lower secondary school students. 503 students (254 male and 249 female) from 14 different primary schools and 8 different regions of Slovenia participated in this study. A three-tier achievement test (with 10 three-tier tasks to identify misconceptions) was used to collect the data. The results show that the Slovenian students’ knowledge of the lithosphere and pedosphere is adequate. On average, students achieved 55.6% of all possible points. The lowest level of knowledge was found for the topic of soil formation. The number of misconcep-tions on this topic is low and does not exceed 30% for any task. The highest number of misconceptions was found for the topic of soil formation and pollution.

• Language: English
• Keywords: three-tier diagnostic test, environmental chemistry, environmental education, lithosphere, pedosphere, misconceptions
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: PEF - Faculty of Education
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Author Accepted Manuscript
• Year: 2024
• Number of pages: Str. 84–90
• Numbering: Vol. 71, no. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-155257
• UDC: 37.091.3:5
• ISSN on article: 1580-3155
• DOI: 10.17344/acsi.2024.8610
• COBISS.SI-ID: 186808579
• Publication date in RUL: 22.03.2024

RIBIČ, Luka, DEVETAK, Iztok and SLAPNIČAR, Miha, 2024, Assessing 15-year-olds’ understanding of chemical concepts in the context of the lithosphere and pedosphere. Acta chimica slovenica [online]. 2024. Vol. 71, no. 1. [Accessed 12 June 2025]. DOI 10.17344/acsi.2024.8610. Retrieved from: https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/IzpisGradiva.php?lang=eng&id=155257

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Acta chimica slovenica
• Shortened title: Acta chim. slov.
• Publisher: Slovensko kemijsko društvo = Slovenian Chemical Society
• ISSN: 1580-3155
• COBISS.SI-ID: 21870085

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian

Abstract

Članek predstavlja rezultate raziskave, ki je med slovenskimi devetošolci ugotavljala razumevanje področja litosfere in pedosfere. Raziskava vključuje razvoj tristopenjskega diagnostičnega inštrumenta sestavljenega iz desetih vprašanj z naslovom Kako dobro poznam prst in kamnine (HWiKSR). V raziskavi so sodelovali skupno 503 učenci iz osmih različnih regij v Sloveniji, ki so v šolskem letu 2021 obiskovali 9. razred osnovne šole. Podatki pridobljeni s HWiKSR so omogočili proučevanje razumevanja in prepričanosti učencev o prsti in kamninah. Rezultati kažejo, da imajo učenci 9. razredov osnovne šole v Sloveniji ustrezno znanje s področja o litosferi in pedosferi. V povprečju so učenci dosegli 55,6 % vseh točk na HWiKSR. Najnižja raven znanja je bila ugotovljena pri temi nastanka tal. Število napačnih predstav učencev o litosferi in pedosferi je nizko in ne presega 30 % pri nobeni nalogi. Največ napačnih predstav je bilo ugotovljenih pri temi nastanka tal in onesnaževanja.

• Keywords: tristopenjski diagnostični test, okoljska kemija, litosfera, pedosfera, napačne predstave, kemija, osnovnošolsko izobraževanje