A Study On The Conceptual Profile Of Chemistry For Middle School Students

Conceptual profile theory is a powerful tool to better address the challenges of learning,teaching and research.The conceptual profile is a description of a model constructed by learners to represent and reason about different zones of knowledge for multiple concepts in science.This research focused on the theme of ’the conceptual profile in chemistry for secondary school students’ and explores the following questions: firstly,what are the pathways to the construction of ’conceptual profiles’ ? Secondly,what is the content of the conceptual profile presented using ’substance’ as an example? Thirdly,what are the characteristics of the conceptual profile of ’substance’ for secondary school students? Fourthly,what are the characteristics of students’ conceptualisation process from the perspective of conceptual profile?In this research,a pathway for the construction of conceptual contours is proposed through literature research,i.e.the different zones of the conceptual profile are delineated through ontological,epistemological and axiological statements from the sociocultural,ontological and microgenetic domains,in order to present the conceptual connotations and ways of talking about them.Using ’substance’ as an example,the conceptual profile of ’substance’ is constructed by combining literature research and questionnaires and is divided into five zones: sensorialist zone,essentialist zone,functionalist zone,compositionist zone,and interactionist zone.The questionnaire was then designed on the basis of the constructed conceptual profile of "substance" to investigate the current situation of the conceptual profile of "substance" among secondary school students.The survey found that sensorialist zone,functionalist zone and compositionist zone were more frequent in secondary school students’ conceptual understanding of substance,but essentialist zone and interactionist zone were less frequent,and there were multiple zones of conceptual contours in the process of conceptual understanding of matter,but the frequency and proportion of the different areas and the conditions of their occurrence were different.and the conditions under which they occur differ.Finally,the researcher selected two students from the sample for case interviews and found that students’ conceptual profile areas could be stimulated by questions,their thinking styles could be stabilised through communication and interaction,and deeper conceptual profile zones could be stimulated during cognitive conflict,but were influenced by their own knowledge base and the context of interaction.In summary,this study proposes a pathway for the construction of "conceptual profiles" in science education,and uses "substance" as the example to establish a conceptual profile of "substance".On this basis,a questionnaire on the conceptual profile of substance was designed to investigate the conceptual profile of substance among secondary school students.The conceptual profiles help teachers to explain complex scientific concepts to students in a clear and concise way,and educators to analyse and understand students’ conceptual understanding and conceptualisation processes in a more structured way,thus helping students to better understand their own ways of thinking and learning and to apply these skills more effectively in their future learning.