Testing students' use of the particulate theory - Texas A&M University (TAMU) Scholar

The attempts to determine the source of misunderstandings and to determine what chemistry teachers can do to increase sound scientific understanding are discussed. An investigation on high school students' understanding about the particulate theory of matter and their use of particulate terminology is performed. The results of the study indicate that students are cued immediately when the particulate theory words like atoms or molecules are used in the questions. If a question contains even minimal particulate terminology, students will tend to answer in particulate terms.

Testing students' use of the particulate theory Academic Article