Chemical bonding: the octet rules ... OK?

Chemical bonding (and related ideas about chemical stability/reactivity) is acknowledged as being a ‘tricky to teach’ topic … with good reason! It is an abstract, theoretical idea that requires students to develop and apply increasingly sophisticated ‘molecular-scale’ models in order to make sense of their observations of the macroscopic properties of different substances.

As Keith Taber points out, students commonly acquire alternative conceptions (‘misconceptions’) about chemical bonding.^1a,3 Some of these can be persistent and may present significant barriers to students’ progression and understanding of more complex ideas in chemistry. There are ways to find out if your students have these misconceptions, what might cause them and alternative teaching strategies that might alleviate them.

This article includes demonstration suggestions and an example excercise.