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Johnstone's triangle

26/2/2023

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3 min read - Improving conceptual understanding in chemistry
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Johnstone's triangle can be a helpful tool for structuring conceptual thinking. Alex Johnstone suggested that we might think about chemical knowledge at 3 different levels:
  1. Macroscopic level: These are the observations we are able to make during an experiment.
  2. Submicroscopic level: Our attempts to model matter and changes that are occurring at a level too small to observe directly.
  3. Symbolic level: Methods of representing our models using symbols, equations, formulas or graphs.
​Here are two examples:
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Although a little time consuming, I have found that it can be helpful for students to make connections between the three levels in order to strengthen their conceptual grasp a particular piece of knowledge.

I have tried to summarise these ideas in this video and this RSC article goes into a little more detail of how you might use it in class.
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  • Home
    • How to use these resources
    • List of resources
    • Helpful external resources
  • Topics
    • Course structure
    • Measurement in chemistry
    • Structure 1 - Models of the particulate nature of matter
    • Structure 2 - Models of bonding and structure
    • Structure 3 - Classification of matter
    • Reactivity 1 - What drives chemical reactions?
    • Reactivity 2 - How much, how far, how fast?
    • Reactivity 3 - What are the mechanism of chemical change?
    • Internal assessment >
      • Official IA resources
      • IA practice A: The density of water
      • IA practice B: Empirical formula of hydrated copper(II) sulfate
      • IA practice C: Standard solutions and titrations
      • IA practice D: Enthalpy change of combustion
      • IA practice E: Full IA
    • Core concepts
    • Revision
  • NOS and TOK
  • Newsletter
  • Podcast