ABSTRACT
The research was conducted to reconstruct molecular engineering activity for chemistry teacher education through interactive simulations on cellulose dissolution in ionic liquids as “designer” solvents. This activity is aimed to enhance the View of Nature of Science and Technology (VNOST) of the pre-service chemistry teacher. This study refers to the Model of Educational Reconstruction (MER) with stages: (1) analysis of content structure, (2) research in learning and (3) development of learning design. The instruments used were text analysis form, validation form, interview guidelines, VNOST questionnaire, expert assessment form and the test items available in the interactive simulation program. The questionnaire and interview were conducted to 20 pre-service teachers from the third year. According to the scientific perspective and the results of the validation of learning outcomes, the chemical concepts related to the topic of ionic liquids as cellulose solvents are ionic bonds, forces between particles and polymers. The results of the interviews as preconception data indicated that the topic of ionic liquids as cellulose solvents is new to students but some students can relate them to the related chemical concepts after analyzing illustration pictures and animation. The initial understanding of VNOST students is generally in the category of Has Merit and Naïve. All data obtained is used as the basis for the reconstruction of interactive simulations. The results of a small-scale trial of the simulation which involved 10 pre-service teachers showed an increase in the number of the pre-service teachers with Realist category of their VNOST. This shows that the interactive simulation that has been reconstructed is feasible to be implemented in learning to build pre-service teachers’ VNOST.
