Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
through the centuries, and to analyze which parallels exist in the student's thinking.
Such theories, for example, refer to
- Primary matter theories of the Greek philosophy schools in ancient times
- Transformation concepts of alchemists
- The Phlogiston theory
- The “horror vacui” and the development of knowledge of air and air pressure
- Theories of atomism, the structure of matter, and others
Since reflections on this matter are of a scientific-historical kind, they will be
introduced first in the section “scientific ideas” (see pie chart metaphor). After that,
empirical results on student conceptions will be discussed and compared to histori-
cal theories in the section “learner.” Recommendations for lessons will be given in
“teaching processes.” The influence of everyday language and commercials in
media on chemistry lessons will be taken up in “human element.”
1.1 Scientific Ideas: Theories of Science History
The Greek philosophers of ancient times deeply considered many issues of human
life and established acknowledged theories in many fields, also in today's cultures
and human values.
Primary theories of matter
. The question of a primary matter arose for Greek
philosophers: What does the world consist of? What does primary matter, primary
substance or element mean? Equally important was the second fundamental idea
that this primary substance should be of eternal existence: “nothing can emerge
from nothing nor can anything vanish to nothing, it is only the appearance that
changes.” Thereby attention was drawn to the following problems:
1. The materiality of earth
2. The fact that matter cannot be created nor destroyed
3. The transformability of matter while keeping the primary substance [
1
]
Aristotle was the first to teach the strict separation of a substance and its
properties. The Greek philosophers before Aristotle were not aware of this differ-
entiation; they did not discuss the substance as the “bearer” of characteristics on one
side and the characteristics themselves on the other side. Based on his understand-
ing, Aristotle proposed: “development and change, formation and transience are
nothing else but a transition from one form of being to another form of being” [
2
].
Transformation concept of the alchemists
. The age of alchemy stretched from
the fourth to the sixteenth century, with the development of alchemy particularly
strong in the Arabic regions. Alchemy in Arabic was just another term for chemis-
try, derived from the Arabian “al” and the Greek “chyma”: cast metal. This term
reflects the great importance of metals and their production for humans including
their wish to turn base metals into gold.
