Understanding quantum numbers: students’ verbal descriptions and pictorial representations of the atomic structure

ABSTRACT

The study aims to investigate students' conceptualisation of the quantum numbers concept through their verbal descriptions and pictorial representations of the corresponding atomic structures. The study was conducted with the participation of 192 12th-grade students from six secondary schools in Northern Greece, via a paper-and-pencil test, developed by two of the authors, including four open-ended tasks. Each task comprised of two parts aiming to assess both the verbal description of a quantum number and pictorial representation of the atomic structure, respectively. Student responses in both parts were evaluated according to specific criteria, on the basis of their correctness and completeness, whereas the consistency between verbal and pictorial ways of expression was statistically assessed in terms of the symmetry of the corresponding contingency tables. Results provide evidence that students’ relevant conceptual problems concern the first and fourth quantum numbers rather than the second and the third ones. Furthermore, an inconsistency between verbal descriptions and pictorial representations is more present in the cases of the fourth and especially the first quantum number, whereas verbal descriptions of the second and third quantum numbers appear to have a rather consistent distribution across categories of pictorial representations. Implications for science education are also discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Quantum numbers
• atomic structure
• verbal descriptions
• pictorial representations

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).