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Exploring current trends in Chemistry education

Presentation · February 2017

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.30349.54242

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 Workshop : Developing 21st Century Skills through Learning Science and Mathematics

Exploring current trends in Chemistry education

SEAMEO RECSAM
15 February 2017
Miranda Yeoh
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This paper addresses three research questions:

1. What are the current trends in Chemistry education on the international and/or
regional scenes?

2. How can Chemistry teachers adopt and adapt the current trends that may be
appropriate in their culture/ country (Indonesia, Malaysia)?

3. What hands-on projects, in line with the trends, can be identified that will support the
learning of our Chemistry students?

Research Question 1
At the turn of the century (August, 2000), the 16th International Conference on Chemical
Education held a workshop at Budapest, Hungary, that included participants from countries in
Europe, Asia, USA and Africa (Bradley, 2002). Four trends that were identified and
discussed were the following:

i. A trend to focus on learners or student-centeredness,

ii. A trend that reflects that a multi-disciplinary approach (where Chemistry is

packaged with other sciences) is needed to solve present and future problems,

iii. A trend that recognizes the need to develop scientific literacy in all students, for they
would serve as future citizens and leaders; while also developing future scientists,

iv. A trend that moves away from the authoritarian style, or methodology, where
teachers are the owners of knowledge, to a democratic style emphasizing active
learning for individual, as well as for collaborative group work (Bradley, 2002).

The first trend on student –centeredness in Chemistry education (Bradley, 2002) is in line
with Ausubel’s learning theory that it is the student who must construct the knowledge of
Chemistry, science etc. from observation and recognition of information and events through
existing concepts or previous knowledge (Ausubel, 1960). Curiosity and the desire to learn
should have students question about the natural world; and learn science. Students have to
apply science to solve problems in daily life in our present world including making tools and
processing actions, and this is technology. Clearly, science and technology are intertwined to
solve a specific problem or accomplish a particular outcome in daily life.

The second trend of using a multi-disciplinary approach in the teaching and learning (T&L)
of Chemistry (Bradley, 2002) was echoed by Bybee, Powell, and Trowbridge (2010) who
called for more emphasis on connections among the basic sciences and other disciplines
including mathematics, technology, social studies and ethics. This is in line with the
knowledge requirements we need to think and behave as a responsible and ethical human
being; and not just a bare understanding of some scientific concepts. We actually need an
 Workshop : Developing 21st Century Skills through Learning Science and Mathematics

understanding of the nature of science. By including the nature of science into our
curriculum, topics will be included that remove distinct boundaries among the sciences and
other disciplines, providing the multi-disciplinary approach that we desire.

The third current trend on the need to develop scientific literacy (Bradley, 2002) was also
emphasized by Bybee et al. (2010) as the main purpose of science education for all students,
including Chemistry education. Clearly there is a need for all students to have scientific
literacy to live and interact in a physical world that is bound by the rules of science. In an era
when resources are dwindling and the earth is threatened with climate change, humans need
science literacy to enable us define the parameters of responsible behaviour for a sustainable
environment. (We may think that the need for universal scientific literacy comes before the
need to develop a certain number of scientists, experts and science educators.)

The fourth current trend of using a more democratic methodology in teaching Chemistry
(Bradley, 2002) that moves away from the authoritarian approach where teachers are the
owners of knowledge. A democratic approach focuses on the learner constructing the links
between new information and existing knowledge and hence we have the trend to active
individual and collaborative learning. Active learning techniques may incorporate blended
learning and the flipped classroom; and the use of media to interconnect students to other
students with Skype and Facebook messenger, and resources that include video games.

Having discussed these four current trends in Chemistry education, we look at traditional
pitfalls that we wish to avoid, and what goals we want to achieve. We will not overload
content although scientific knowledge is increasing exponentially, while we bear in mind that
we need a balanced content. We will not teach the Chemistry curriculum as a series of
isolated facts, but as interconnected and meaningful facts. It would be foolish to think that
topics in Chemistry can be isolated, when we are trying to employ a multi-disciplinary
approach among science, math, social studies and ethics (Trend 2). We must bear in mind to
relate the knowledge to the daily lives of students. And we must emphasize on scientific
literacy, besides the development of scientists and researchers in this field.

Research Question 2
How can Chemistry teachers adopt and adapt the current trends that may be appropriate in
their culture/ country (Indonesia, Malaysia)?

Educators agree that it is difficult to transform awareness into practical action. How can the
current trends be adopted and/or adapted for the ASEAN region? It is worthwhile to note that
current trends from other parts of our global village may need a careful study to ascertain that
they will be suitable and effective for Chemistry education in the local context. Language
and culture are realities that need to be taken into consideration. Learning materials need to
be developed that are suitable and meet local expectations. It is the locals that must
understand the current trends who must decide how to smoothly adopt and adapt these trends,
or painlessly inject these trends into the Chemistry curriculum.

Research Question 3
What hands-on activities or projects, in line with the trends, can be identified that will
support the learning of our Chemistry students (with their peculiar cultural needs)?

Participants searched and/or discussed activities that were in line with current trends in
Chemistry education. Two PBL activities #3 and #4 were discussed at length. These were
 Workshop : Developing 21st Century Skills through Learning Science and Mathematics

‘Cleaning solutions’ at http://www.rsc.org/learn-Chemistry/resource/res00000939/problem-

based-practical-activities?cmpid=CMP00001319#!cmpid=CMP00001325 and ‘Alcohol
detective’ at http://www.rsc.org/learn-Chemistry/resource/res00000939/problem-based-
practical-activities?cmpid=CMP00001319#!cmpid=CMP00001326

Table 1. Frequency of teachers’ adopting of the current trends

Trend Never Rarely Sometimes Often Very often

1 0 0 7 18 3

2 0 0 21 7 0

3 0 0 6 22 0

4 0 0 11 15 2

After the discussions, the author collected some data from the science students. 28
respondents on how frequently they perceived their Chemistry teachers had adopted the
trends into the curriculum. The data (Table 1) showed that the teachers were aware of the
trends, and had adopted these trends at times at least, although the participants also perceived
that several teachers had adopted these trends quite often or very often.

REFERENCES

Ausubel, D. P. (1960). The use of advance organizers in the learning and retention of
meaningful verbal material. Journal of Educational Psychology, 51(5), 267-272.
Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0046669

Bradley, J. D. (2002). New trends in Chemistry Curricula: A UNESCO-IUPAC (CTC)

Workshops, Chemical Education International, 3 (1), AN-3. Retrieved from
http://old.iupac.org/publications/cei/vol3/index.html

Bybee, R. W., Powell, J. C., & Trowbridge, L. W. (2010). Trends in secondary science.
Pearson Allyn Bacon Prentice Hall. Retrieved from
https://www.education.com/reference/article/trends-secondary-school-science/

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