Teaching Chemistry As A Cross Cultural Subject: It & Linguistics

The main theme of this paper is the language of chemical formulae rather than the language explaining the chemistry ; the focus of our interest is the code used in writing chemical formulae. This paper describes the nature and scope of the research project started by an out-of-school multidisciplinary team set up in the ’90s ; the research was conducted in Italy in different socio-cultural contexts in technical as well as classical secondary schools on students 14–16 and 16-18 respectively. The aim of the work was on the one hand to investigate as to whether or not the teachinglearning process speeds up when students are provided with a previous mnemonic knowledge of chemical formulae and, on the other hand, to test the feasibility of associating old and well-known natural language concepts with chemical concepts. This work discusses how the communication on chemical topics has been improved by getting the student: • To master the world language of chemistry. This task was accomplished through a computer card-game based on the chemistry code. The software CHICKA (Code Helping In Chemical Knowledge Acquisition) was built on the whole set of chemistry rules for composing inorganic chemical formulae, which was translated into game rules. The software is articulated in levels and sublevels of increasing difficulty ; the cards represent the symbols of the elements and the structure of complex ions ; each formula composed appears on the monitor only if it is correct : it will be one of the hundreds formulae of inorganic compounds. The software does not expect, however, any learning in its users for in the learning-mode the computer has the first hand and the second player is asked to reproduce the computer moves. But in the tests and tournaments the computer stops being the tutor and becomes the opponent. Here the player can even score higher than the computer because some results are achievable by chance and not only by the competence in chemistry acquired throughout the previous games. Throughout the game valency, anfoterism, electronegativity and stereochemistry are inadvertently learned. The game is for any user the world over as no nomenclature is used. P ge 11201.2 • To identify links between Chemistry and Linguistics by applying to chemistry known natural language concepts such as morphemes and lexemes in order to make students understand the concept of chemical formula long before the explanation of chemical bonds and molecular structures is carried out, and giving teachers some guidelines on practical application to chemistry of concepts such as context, actants and student’s encyclopaedia. • To give some familiar processes a scientific interpretation to be used as vehicle towards theories of physical-chemistry. The effectiveness of this approach has been demonstrated in drastically diminished gap between teaching and learning ; the classroom atmosphere was pleasant and friendly. Long-lasting learning was verified by using this approach on students who chose Chemistry at university level. The knowledge of the language of Chemistry acquired before entering the study of chemistry improved the ability to comprehend the subject matter.