Students’ Microscopic, Macroscopic, and Symbolic Representations of Chemical Reactions

This study examined the mental representations of chemical reactions used by six students (three male, three female) who achieved above-average grades in a college freshman chemistry class at a large midwestern university. The representations expressed by the students in structured interviews were categorized as microscopic, macroscopic, or symbolic representations of chemical reactions. The study revealed that the participants did make at least some use of each of the three representations; however, there were wide variations among participants in the sophistication of the various representations they used and in their understanding of the relationships between representations. Also, participants receiving very similar course grades sometimes demonstrated very different conceptual understandings of chemical reactions.