Connecting Levels of Representation: Emergent versus submergent perspective

Chemical phenomena can be described using three representation modes: macro, submicro, and symbolic. The way students use and connect these modes when solving conceptual problems was studied, using a think‐aloud interview protocol. The protocol was validated through interviews with six faculty members, and then applied to four graduate and six undergraduate chemistry students. We used a ‘levels of complexity’ framework to analyse responses: the macro and symbolic modes were considered system‐level representations, and the submicro mode a component‐level representation. We found that faculty members thought of system‐level properties as emerging from mechanistic interactions between particles on the component level—an emergent perspective. In many cases, the students either failed to connect the system and component levels, or thought of system‐level properties as guiding the behaviour of particles on the component level—a ‘submergent’ perspective. Some students used their familiarity with a symbolic equat...