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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 2001  > April  >
In the Classroom
Acids and Bases in Layers: The Stratal Structure of an Ancient Topic
Wobbe de Vos and Albert Pilot
Center for Science and Mathematics Education, Utrecht University, Princetonplein 5, 3584 CC Utrecht, The Netherlands
Cover
April 2001
Vol. 78 No. 4
p. 494
Abstract
As the topic of acids and bases is one of the oldest in general chemistry courses, it can serve to illustrate the stratified structure that a curriculum can acquire. This article identifies and discusses six successive "layers" that can be recognized in chapters on acids and bases in general chemistry textbooks. Each layer is the result of what once was a modernization. We argue that even though each adaptation in itself may be well considered, the cumulative result has in the long run become problematic. The layers often have little to do with one another, and sometimes they seem mutually inconsistent. A concept that has been introduced in one layer tends to turn up in another having a different meaning and a different function. Such differences often are not made explicit to students. Some learning problems that students have when studying acids and bases become comprehensible when viewed from this perspective.
More Information
*  Citation
 de Vos, Wobbe; Pilot , Albert. J. Chem. Educ. 2001 78 494.
*  Keywords
 Acid–Base Chemistry; Chemical Education Research; Curriculum; General Chemistry; Teaching/Learning Theory/Practice; Textbooks
*  History
 Created:
Last Updated:		 March 2, 2001
April 14, 2005
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