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Students often learn how to solve mathematical problems without understanding the chemistry. They memorize chemical definitions and use chemical terms without true comprehension. Misconceptions regarding acids and bases, acid strength, dissociation, diatomic elements, bonding, and aqueous solutions can interfere with subsequent learning and can persist beyond the undergraduate levelThese chemical concepts readily lend themselves to microscopic representations. Teaching strategies using these visual aids could explain the concept before applying the mathematics. This might increase comprehension and retention by allowing students to picture the chemistry. Questions based on or incorporating microscopic representations could evaluate student understanding of such chemical concepts.
Smith et al. (Fri,) studied this question.