DETECTING CHEMICAL MISCONCEPTIONS IN FIRST-YEAR BIOCHEMISTRY DEGREE UNDERGRADUATES

Students possess some ideas about physical-chemical transformations that are at odds with the established chemical theory. If we want the conceptual framework to be learnt in a robust, sound way, then these misconceptions have to be challenged and, eventually, demolished scientifically [1-4]. Biochemistry is a science that needs strong chemical foundations. Hence, students who are struggling with fundamental concepts from chemistry will be ill-equipped to analyse processes that are more sophisticated [5]. The first goal is to detect what these wrong ideas are. Once misconceptions are identified, a teaching-learning strategy can be conceived to address the problem [6-8]. We have used a validated questionnaire composed of 25 questions, divided into five key conceptual categories related to physical-chemical phenomena [9-14]. The survey was conducted with first-year Biochemistry undergraduates reading a course on General Chemistry during the first term of the 2014/15 academic year, at the University of Extremadura, Spain. We present herein the methodology, results, analysis and conclusions drawn from this study.