Prior Conceptions about Atom and Chemical Substance: Identification of Conceptual Zones in the Responses of Youth and Adult Students

This study investigated students’ prior conceptions of atom and chemical substance at entry into a Youth and Adult Education program (YAE; in Portuguese, Educação de Jovens e Adultos, EJA). Data were collected via an open-ended questionnaire administered to 41 students enrolled in a non-graded, blended-learning program. Responses were examined through Content Analysis, generating analytic categories and their distribution by age group. For atom, non-response predominated (27/41; 65.9%), while the most frequent substantive category described the atom as a “component” of things (8/41; 19.5%). For chemical substance, answers were more frequent but largely grounded in everyday examples, especially “reactivity” (23/41; 56.1%), with limited differentiation between substance and mixture. Finally, categories were related to conceptual profile zones discussed in the literature. These results indicate the predominance of everyday meanings and support the need for YAE teaching to work explicitly with prior conceptions as a starting point toward more systematic scientific meanings.