Difficult concepts in chemistry as seen by Moroccan high school students: A survey in the Fez-Meknes region

Abstract

This quantitative study investigates the conceptual difficulties in chemistry education among second-year baccalaureate students in Morocco’s Fez-Meknes region, focusing on identifying difficult concepts and comparing perceptions between different groups. We administered a reliable questionnaire (Cronbach’s alpha =0.86) to 250 students and 13 teachers across four urban and rural high schools, evaluating the perceived difficulty of 26 chemistry concepts on a four-point Likert scale. Results revealed that students identified nine concepts as particularly challenging (mean score >2.5), including chemical kinetics (temporal monitoring by conductometry and pressure measurement), density and mass density, electrochemistry (spontaneous transformations and  batteries), organic chemistry nomenclature, and chemical transformations. Statistical analysis showed significant differences between teachers’ and students' perceptions (p=0.007)  with teachers identifying 12 difficult concepts compared to students' nine, and consistently rating concepts as more difficult.  The school environment had a significant impact (p=0.045)  with rural students identifying 11 difficult concepts versus 9 for urban students and reporting higher difficulty levels while we found no significant gender-related differences (p=0.814). Based on these findings, we recommend adapting teaching approaches with active and contextualized methods, enhancing teacher training programs, and encouraging collaboration between educational stakeholders to make chemistry learning more accessible and effective, particularly for students in rural areas.