Developing Key Ideas to Teach ‘Acids’ & ‘Bases’ in Upper Secondary Schools

According to scientific consensus, one main source of learner confusion in chemistry is having to understand the different levels of the chemistry triangle and their connection. Especially with topics such as ‘acids’ and ‘bases’, using a conceptually coherent model on the submicroscopic level is indispensable in order to prevent learners from confusing the chemistry triangle levels. We aim to
construct such a model by delineating Key Ideas from the scientific Brønsted-Lowry model and using them as the basis for a learning environment. In this paper, the use of the Model of Educational Reconstruction for the subsequent development of Key Ideas about ‘acids’ and ‘bases’ is described.