Investigation of Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Learning in Organic Chemistry According to SOLOTaxonomy: The Case of Aromatic Compound Reactions

Abstract

One of the tools used in evaluating students' learning of concepts is SOLO taxonomy. This study aimed to investigate pre-service science teachers' levels of learning and learning difficulties in the context of SOLO taxonomy about the reactions of aromatic compounds, a topic that is among the most basic in organic chemistry. The study was conducted in cross-sectional survey design and an analysis was conducted of responses to six open-ended questions asked of pre-service teachers (N=89) enrolled in the Science Education Department of a university in the Aegean region of Turkey during the 2016-2017 academic year. The data obtained from the research revealed that the highest percentages of the preservice teachers' responses to all of the questions corresponded to the “pre-structural” level. Also, the results of the study indicated that the pre-service teachers could not reach the "relational"level in writing
out the aromatic compound reactions particularly according to "ortho, para, and meta" directing group, Friedel-Crafts alkylation-acylation, and side-chain oxidation reactions,