Abstract

COşTU, Bayram  and  NIAZ, Mansoor. Presentation of Origin of the Covalent Bond in Turkish General Chemistry Textbooks: A History and Philosophy of Science Perspective. Educ. quím [online]. 2012, vol.23, suppl.2, pp.257-264. ISSN 0187-893X.

The main objectives of this study are 1) to develop a perspective based on history and philosophy of science (HPS) considerations in order to understand the postulation of the covalent (shared pair) bond by Lewis; 2) to formulate criteria based on the HPS perspective that could be useful in the evaluation of general chemistry textbooks; and 3) to evaluate 27 general chemistry textbooks (published in Turkey) utilizing the criteria based on the HPS perspective. Results obtained showed that most of the general chemistry textbooks did not present the origin of the covalent bond based on a HPS perspective. Also, the textbooks mostly follow an inductivist interpretation of the origin of the covalent bond. It is plausible to suggest that textbook presentations based on a HPS perspective can perhaps facilitate students' interest in the subject and hence lead to sound conceptual understanding.

Keywords : historical reconstruction; covalent bond; Turkish and U.S.A. general chemistry textbooks.