Ending Students’ Common Question, “Why Do We Learn Chemistry?”: The Importance of Making the Subject Relevant and Meaningful

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue will gather studies investigating the utility of using context-based or socio-scientific-issues-based instruction to improve students’ motivation, self-efficacy, and learning outcomes in chemistry classrooms. The science education literature indicates that embedding scientific principles in interesting and relevant contexts enhances learning outcomes, but based on experience and limited evidence that is not always the case in chemistry classrooms. This Special Issue will invite papers that cover both successful and not-so-successful interventions, so that some guiding principles can be identified and highlighted to shape an enhanced approach.

Chemistry as a subject or part of science education is compulsory for all students at the high school level. Chemistry courses play an essential role in many students’ education in tertiary education and, in turn, their life, regardless of their major. However, many students fail or do not satisfactorily master the concepts covered in high school or undergraduate courses. Among different factors that explain these findings, students’ motivation and perception towards learning the chemistry seem to be very important. As the focus in the classroom has shifted from exploration to proving what is right or wrong (e.g., cookbook-style experiments) and from discovery to transmitting knowledge, students have become less and less interested in putting effort into understanding the topics presented. Many instructors ignore the real world full of mysteries, or socio-scientific issues and sustainability challenges, and are instead concerned with covering the abstract world of principles. Many science classes in high school and science courses at university level, including general chemistry, are perceived by students to be isolated from the environmental and societal problems of the world. In parallel, retention rates in STEM fields have been decreasing, and there is now a growing need to increase both the quality and quantity of people in the scientific workforce.

One of the main goals of this Special Issue is to create an important source for related research aimed at exploring issues, challenges, failures, and successes observed in chemistry classes and laboratories, in which instructors aim to transform chemistry teaching to make it more relevant and meaningful to their students. The papers published in this Issue will address questions such as “How does the integration of relevant topics into chemistry courses influence students’ self-efficacy and attitudes towards chemistry?”, “What student attributes are developed through the implementation of activities involving the discussion of socio-scientific issues?”, and “Does successful implementation of context-based learning provide students with the skills needed in the quickly changing scientific workforce?”. These questions form the basis for many studies whose findings are still relatively new and not widely disseminated. The Special Issue will focus on conveying these results to a larger audience and starting new discussions, which could initiate further research projects.

Prof. Dr. Ozcan Gulacar
Prof. Dr. Charlie Cox
Prof. Dr. Ingo Eilks
Guest Editors

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• STEM education
• science education
• chemistry education
• motivation
• self-efficacy
• making sense
• engagement in learning
• teaching in context
• relevancy
• socio-scientific issues
• education for sustainable development