Children's interpretation of dissolving

Abstract Children of two different age groups (11‐12 and 13‐14) were asked to draw and to write about dissolving in two different ways. The first required a representation of the everyday, observable process while the second called for a representation of dissolving in particle terms. A greater percentage of children at both ages gave an accurate particle interpretation than an accurate view of the observable process. Moreover, while understanding of the particle interpretation improved with age, there was little overall improvement in understanding the everyday notion. The data were also analysed for alternative ideas about dissolving and about particles in solution. Consistency between the two ways of looking at dissolving was not found to improve with age.