Evidence-Based Teaching at the Master’s Degree Stage

At the Master’s degree stage, the students acquaint themselves in more detail than in the Bachelor’s degree stage with the most up-to-date research information on six chemistry education courses and a research seminar.

The aims of the courses are (i) to provide the students chances to acquaint themselves with various information sources on chemistry education, (ii) to learn to use these information sources comfortably both in their studies and teaching, and (iii) to enable them to track the most important publications even in their future professional lives.

The Central Areas of Chemistry Education II course (4 ECTS)

Central Areas of Chemistry Education II course continues discussing the topics of Central Areas of Chemistry Education I by studying key concepts and phenomena. A personal course programme is drawn up for each student on the basis of common discussion. During the course, the students acquaint themselves with retrieval of scholarly information in chemistry education as well as producing, analysing and critically evaluating it. Students also attend to the National chemistry education days.

The course is the final one in the chemistry teacher training and it is held in the spring of the fifth study year.

Chemistry as a Science and as a Discipline (5 ECTS)

The aims of the Chemistry as a Science and as a Discipline course is that the students (i) understand how chemical information and models are produced and how they evolve, (ii) understand what significance an experiment, its findings and interpretation have in producing and developing scientific models, (iii) learn to discuss the ethics of chemistry research and the social significance of chemistry, and (iv) know how to apply their understanding of the nature of chemistry in planning and implementing teaching.

The course introduces the contemporary chemistry research and the nature of chemistry research and chemical knowledge. The course studies how the views expressed in the philosophy of chemistry and science studies and the contemporary scientific research should be visible in chemistry education and part of its objectives. The course comprises peer-teaching lectures, discussions and debates and reading assignments. The course also includes a researcher interview and spending a day as “researchers” in a research group in a chemistry research laboratory.

Inquiry-based chemistry teaching II course (5 ECTS)

This course continues with the themes of nature of scientific inquiry and inquiry-based learning. The course utilises the most up-to-date research information pertaining to inquiry-based learning by introducing the students to (i) inquiry as a method for enhancing students learning (ii) implementing practical work in less than ideal circumstances, in a classroom, in modern learning environments and outside.

The course encourages students to take a practical approach central to chemistry in school education. It also involves a research project where students conduct their own inquiry project.

Models and Visualisation in Chemistry Education (5 ECTS)

The aims of the Models and Visualisation in Chemistry Education course are to learn to (i) utilise computational chemistry in school chemistry education, (ii) utilise information and communications technology in visualising chemical models, (iii) understand various types of models, their roles and their use in chemistry and chemistry education, (iv) understand chemical visualisation and its role in presenting various models, and (v) use various models in the visualisation of the central concepts in the curriculum.

The course comprises interactive lectures and practical exercises. The course utilises in a wide-ranging manner information and communications technology, for example various molecular modelling programs. The course further includes distance assignments and teaching students in classroom. The course material comprises research articles in English and in Finnish. The most recent research information on models, modelling and visualisation is utilised in the course.

Seminar in Chemistry education (5 ECTS)

The aim of the seminar is to get acquainted with research into chemistry teaching and doing it in practice. The seminar is part of the credits of the Master’s Thesis (40 ECTS). It is recommended that students commence the seminar as early as the spring of second year. The students gradually ‘tune’ into doing their own research and at the same time the possible apprehension they feel towards writing their own theses is gradually diminished.

The seminar students follow at least eight seminar sessions with presentations on studies, write a learning diary, read two research articles on chemistry education research (Bunce, Gabel, Herron & Jones, 1994; Gabel, 1999), and present the research plan of their own Master’s Thesis and its results.