Conceptual change texts in chemistry teaching: A study on the particle model of matter

This study explores the effect of a conceptual change text on students’ awareness of common misconceptions on the particle model of matter. The conceptual change text was designed based on principles of text comprehensibility, of conceptual change instruction and of instructional approaches how to introduce the particle model. It was evaluated in an empirical study with 214 students. Students’ learning was measured with a pre-post-test design. Item response theory was used for analysing students’ answers. We found that reading the criteria-based text fostered students’ awareness of common misconceptions about the particle model and yielded overall improved results as compared to reading a traditional text.