The Impact of Two-tier Instruments on Undergraduate Chemistry Teacher Trainees: An Illuminative Assessment

Research has it that diagnostic tools lead to better teaching and learning strategies as teachers are able to unearth students’ deep-seated learning challenges. An illuminative assessment approach was therefore employed to assess how two-tier diagnostic assessments that are alleged to possess inherent capacities to diagnose students’ learning difficulties impacted on Ghanaian undergraduate teacher trainees. The obtained results were interpreted within an epistemological framework. Findings indicated that two-tier diagnostic instruments, were effective in revealing learners’ conceptual misunderstandings in inorganic chemistry. As many as 43 alternative conceptions were uncovered through the use of diagnostic assessments. These findings would give chemistry teachers an insight into some students’ naïve conceptions and add up to existing knowledge about students’ learning difficulties as well as how teachers can recognise them.