Evidence-Based Teaching at the Bachelor’s Degree Stage

Introduction to Chemistry Education (3 ECTS)

During the first course on chemistry education, Introduction to Chemistry Education, the students are ‘tuned’ both into chemistry as a science and into the research of chemistry education through interactive lectures, small-group discussions and group assignments. Subjects introduced at the course are discussed in more detail during the Master’s studies.

The students are introduced with chemistry education research: its history, research subjects and information sources. Concept of research-oriented chemistry teacher is also discussed with students throughout the course. Students are also offered opportunity to visit schools and discuss with chemistry teachers.

During the course, the students get an opportunity to guide small-scale functional activities for children and their parents. This allows them to practice teaching and reflect the experience afterwards.

Chemistry in The Living Environment course (4 ECTS)

This course has four central themes:  (i) discussing the significance of chemistry-related knowledge and applications, (ii) offering tools for teaching about the significance of chemistry knowledge and applications at various levels of school education, (iii) teaching to take advantage of various information sources in the planning and implementation of the teaching, and (iv) teaching to understand informal, contextual and STS learning, as well as the popularisation of chemistry. The coursework includes reading and discussing scientific texts and peer-teaching exercises.

The Central Areas of Chemistry Education I course (6 ECTS)

The aim of this course is to support the student’s development into a research-oriented teacher. To achieve this aim, students study (i) the information structure of the chemistry concepts and phenomena (ii) supporting students learning of chemistry concepts (iii) chemistry curriculum for primary and secondary education. The coursework includes a research-based project work and exercises on cooperative learning.

The aim is to ensure a good overall command of chemistry and its application to school education. Moreover, it is hoped that the students acquire good experiences and get a sense of achievement from the course. The course comprises interactive lectures, assignments, research assignments, teamwork, oral presentations and discussions. During the course, the students seek information from chemistry and chemistry education databases and write summaries about the most recent research articles. They also present the results of this study to their peers.

Inquiry-based Chemistry Teaching I (5 ECTS)

This course introduces students to the nature of scientific inquiry and inquiry-based learning. Another topics discussed are work safety and green chemistry. Peer-teaching exercises are used to study different stages of inquiry process and to provide students opportunities to design their own inquiry activities. The course includes also an inquiry teaching exercise at school and desiging a demonstration that uses inquiry. Finally, students will write a description of how inquiry can be used to meet the requirements of national curriculum.