What’re the top reasons why students think is difficult to learn chemistry?
The top reasons why students think is difficult to learn chemistry include:
chemistry is:
- an abstract subject
- involves mathematics
- for smart people
- full of facts to memorize
Is chemistry an abstract subject?
To some extend yes. As you know, we are good at understanding things we can see, touch, hear, smell, and taste. In chemistry, sometimes we can’t apply our senses to truly understand the nature and properties of atoms. Atoms are the building blocks of all things, and usually they are invisible to the naked eye.
Does chemistry involve mathematics?
To some extend yes, but you don’t need to understand complex mathematics to understand the core ideas in chemistry. Why is mathematics necessary? Sometimes one property of matter exist in relation with another property. This relationship is usually expressed in a mathematical formula. As a result, students who struggle in basic algebra often find density and stoichiometry problems difficult to understand.
Is chemistry truly for smart people?
No! It’s true that some people are more able than others in learning and understanding new things fast, but many secrets in nature were discovered by ordinary people who devoted their time and energy to study nature. We believe that any normal person who is motivated can learn the core ideas in chemistry.
Is chemistry full of facts?
Yes! However, some teachers can design activities and experiments to allow students gather data to discover some of these facts for themselves. It’s also necessary to point out that some of these facts took hundreds of years to build and may not be practical to do in a classroom setting.