ISSUES IN TEACHING MOLE CONCEPTS FOR MEANINGFUL LEARNING

Abstract

The meaningful learning of Mole Concepts in chemistry has become a challenge to teachers worldwide. The implementation of the twenty first century learning to enhance thinking skills among students is currently emphasised in Malaysian government secondary schools. The continuous efforts of researchers worldwide over the decades have identified the obstacles to meaningful learning, which is the abstractness of chemistry subject. Hence, teachers opt for algorithmic teaching strategies that result in superficial understanding and use of memorised set of steps in problem solving. Researchers have contributed various teaching strategies to encounter this problem by promoting the need for an abstract concept to embark on prior knowledge as well as to engage students in the learning process actively. Another view on teaching method is by having a balance between the “know what” and the “know how” of an abstract concept which gives importance to the conceptual understanding as well as the systematic set of steps to solve problems to promote meaningful learning.