Johnstone's triangle

3 min read - Improving conceptual understanding in chemistry

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:

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.