Semiotic Systems Specific to Chemistry and Their Learning

Résumé En

This chapter focuses on characterizing the learning of some signs specific to chemistry in secondary education and in a francophone context. It also focuses on two theses, that of Destin Mangane and that of Sophie Canac. For a chemist or someone who has studied chemistry, the meaning of a chemical formula depends on its context. The chapter presents the semiotic considerations that have inspired our approach. Our semiotic positioning borrows mainly from Charles Sanders Peirce and Raymond Duval as it explain, by indicating how it is embodied in the analysis of the main chemical signs. Stereochemistry involves the study of the geometry of molecular structures. Knowing this geometry makes it possible to explain or predict some molecular properties such as the dipole moment or chirality, and, partly, their reactivity. In her thesis, Canac studied the understanding that students may have of names and formulae. She determined how students learn chemical formulae and their use.