Development of four-tier conception test on the weak interaction between chemical particles

The subject of interactions between chemical species is one of the chemistry subjects that high school students have difficulty in learning. In this study, it was aimed to develop a reliable and valid four-tier misconception test to determine the misconceptions of tenth grade high school students about weak interactions between chemical particles. The Weak Interactions Between Chemical Particles Concept Test (WIBCPCT) developed for this purpose consists of 30 questions, each of which includes four stages. The developed test was applied to 372 tenth grade students. To test the reliability of the data obtained from WIBCPCT, the Cronbach alpha (α) reliability coefficients of the correct answer scores and misconception scores were calculated. In order to test the validity of the data obtained from the WIBCPCT, the relationships between the scores obtained from the correct answers at different stages of the WIBCPCT and the confidence scores were examined, the percentages of false negatives, false positives and lack of knowledge were calculated. Furthermore, exploratory factor analysis was performed using the correct answers in the WIBCPCT. "Compounds made of the same atoms are not molecular." and "Van der Waals forces only occur between molecules." are the one of the new misconceptions added to the literature.