Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Understanding of Chemical Multiple Representations

Chemistry deals with lots of concepts ranging from simple to more complex as well as concrete to abstract. Understanding of chemistry is needed mainly by pre-service science teachers. The purpose of this study was to investigate the understanding of preservice science teachers about chemical multiple representations at macroscopic, symbolic, and sub-microscopic levels. This study involved twenty-seven preservice science and data were collected using chemical multiple representations table. Results indicated that most of pre-service science teachers could not describe the substances when it is dissolved in water at macroscopic, symbolic, and sub-microscopic levels. A few of pre-service science teachers couldn't write correctly the symbolic level of potassium chloride. All of them couldn’t write correctly the ionization reaction of acetic acid and also describe the molecular view of acetic acid solution. Generally, they had some difficulties in investigating macroscopic, symbolic, and sub- microscopic levels nor integrating these levels with the contents.