First and second thoughts about teaching secondary chemistry

Abstract

This paper selectively reviews both early and more recent work by the author on the teaching of chemistry at secondary level. The purpose is twofold: (i) to review the proposals, their features, and the research behind them, (ii) to emphasize the strength over time of the work presented, but also the need for constant revision. The reviewed topics for lower secondary education (7th-9th grades) include: a revised curriculum (1984); a study of Greek students’ contextual chemistry knowledge (1987); an updated proposal about the curriculum (2001); an integrated physics and chemistry program for the 7th grade (2000), that has been further developed recently (2011) to include biology; two research studies on teaching methodology (2000)’; a chemistry course for the 8th grade (2010); revision of the current formal Greek chemistry curriculum (2014). The reviewed topics for upper secondary education (10th-12th grades) include: three early (1981, 1985a, 1985b) studies on Greek students’ strengths and difficulties with chemistry; a context-based chemistry curriculum (1988, 1991); proposals for new chemistry curricula (2000, 2011, 2014) for the 10th and 11th grades. Coupling to the PARSEL modules is also made. The paper concludes by making reference and connection to the work of Hans Jürgen Schmidt.