Understanding in order to plan teaching: students’ conceptions of STSE content in electrochemistry

Abstract

The teaching of electrochemistry is fundamental to promoting an understanding of scientific and technological concepts related to the functioning of electrochemical devices, as well as their social and environmental impacts. However, studies show that the teaching of this subject is challenging for teachers and students and often fails to take into account the social context of such content. This study investigated the understanding of 317 high school students from 8 Brazilian schools about batteries and electrolytic processes. Considering the STSE content related to the subject, we also looked at how students’ understanding changes over the three years of secondary school. The research was conducted by a group of researchers and high school teachers and aimed to help them design their own teaching materials. The results show that the students have difficulties in relating electrochemical knowledge to everyday issues, especially in the technological and social dimensions. The students demonstrated knowledge on environmental aspects, regarding the conscious disposal of batteries and their environmental impacts. However, they did not recognize the importance of batteries regarding social inclusion. As far as the scientific aspect is concerned, the students showed some difficulties, such as correlating and applying concepts to explain how everyday electrochemical devices work. This highlights the importance of a context-based and integrated approach to teaching, which addresses not only scientific aspects, but also social, technological and environmental aspects, in order to promote a deeper and more critical understanding among the students and help them to take conscious and scientifically-based decisions.