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Assessing College Students' Understanding Of Acid Base Chemistry Concepts, Yanjun Wan

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Typically most college curricula include three acid base models: Arrhenius', Bronsted-Lowry's, and Lewis'. Although Lewis' acid base model is generally thought to be the most sophisticated among these three models, and can be further applied in reaction mechanisms, most general chemistry curricula either do not include Lewis' acid base model, or quickly mention it at the end of the acid base chapter, because of the concern that Lewis' model may confuse general chemistry students (Shaffer 2006). While such a disconnection in curriculum might put students to disadvantage as they try to construct solid and coherent acid base mental models, there …