Özet:

It is known that chemistry is a difficult domain for students to learn and for teachers to teach (Haigh, France & Gounder, 2011; Adadan, 2012; Ültay & Çalık, 2012; Wheeldon, Atkinson, Dawes & Levinson, 2012). The reason for this difficulty is that chemistry has too many abstract concepts and requires high- level thinking skills (Reid, 2000; Çalık & Ayas, 2005; Papageorgiou, Stamovlasis & Johnson, 2010; Demircioğlu, Demircioğlu, Ayas & Kongur, 2012). In order to learn chemical concepts, one must grasp three levels of definition: the microscopic, macroscopic and symbolic level (Novick & Nussbaum, 1981). The macroscopic level is related to directly observable events, while the microscopic level is related to particles such as atoms and molecules (Ebenezer, 2001; Özmen & Ayas, 2003). The symbolic level is an explanation of other levels. An exact understanding of these levels facilitates students’ comprehension of chemical concepts. According to the literature, students cannot relate the micro level and the macro level and have difficulty understanding either level on its own (Raviolo, 2001; Çalık & Ayas, 2002; Franco & Taber, 2009; Adadan, Trundle & Irving, 2010; Karaçöp & Doymuş, 2012). Generally, students tend to explain micro events at the macro level (Stavridou & Solomonidou, 1998). The particulate of matter is one problematic topic at micro level. This topic is a fundamental topic of chemistry (Brook, Briggs & Driver, 1984; Griffiths & Preston, 1992; Adadan, Trundle & Irving, 2010), meaning that a problem with this subject will affect further learning. If university students studying science education or chemical education, pre-service teachers and even teachers themselves have some misconceptions related to chemical concepts, it is clearly important that they master the topic of the particulate of matter at the micro and macro level. Experiments, an indispensable element of science, help people understand chemistry from a theoretical and practical standpoint. Experiments involve associations between the micro and macro levels and thus provide an understanding of difficult and abstract concepts. Models can also furnish foster a better understanding of concepts related to the micro and macro levels. Studies have found that students cannot connect daily life and chemical concepts. While they know chemical concepts theoretically, they cannot relate theory to events that occur in daily life, and they tend to explain micro events at the macro level (Stavridou & Solomonidou, 1998; Özmen, 2003; Demircioğlu, Demircioğlu, Ayas & Kongur, 2012). In response to this difficulty, this study made use of experiments and models in order to facilitate micro and macro level understandings among science students concerning the topic of the particulate of matter. In this study, we attempted to improve understanding of the particulate nature of matter using experiments and demonstrations at the micro and macro levels.

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