Browsing by Author "Juntunen, Marianne"

Chemistry plays an important role in making the future more sustainable and solving the global issues. The curricula, national and international educational strategies, research literature and Finnish chemical industry are all focusing on sustainable development. We need more environmentally literate chemists, chemistry teachers and students – future citizens, who solve the several environmental challenges that face the whole world. The main aim of this study was to design novel methods for teaching sustainable development in chemistry, using inquiry methods, to foster students' environmental literacy and positive attitudes towards chemistry. Sustainable development is linked to chemistry education through socio-scientific issues, e.g. life-cycle thinking and green chemistry. The theoretical problem-analysis of the design study investigated the approaches, which are of key importance for the study: sustainable development, green chemistry, the life-cycles of different products, environmental literacy, socio- scientific education, and inquiry-based learning. The empirical design phase answered the research questions: 1) What kind of inquiry-based life-cycle thinking promotes sustainable development in chemistry education? 2) How collaboratively developed design solution on life-cycle teaching affects students' environmental literacy and chemistry attitudes? The research was conducted in chemistry teachers' in-service training, where the topics were related to the study: sustainable development and chemistry, green chemistry, life-cycle analysis and thinking, environmental literacy, socio- scientific issues, and inquiry-based learning. There, novel methods for teaching inquiry-based life-cycle thinking in chemistry education were developed collaboratively. Chemistry knowledge was connected to the life-cycle of a product or material. The study focused on chemistry teachers' teaching concepts, the collaboratively developed design solution of those and the upper-secondary school students' perceptions. The collaborative design involved 21 chemistry teachers and two researchers, who analysed the research data during the years 2010–2012. The goals of the in-service training were planned according to the problem-analysis. The study involved 105 9th grade students. The design research methods included the content analysis of the texts, semi-structured interviews, and quantitative surveys. As the outcome of the empirical design phase, two types of knowledge was generated: 1) novel chemistry teaching concepts for sustainability education using life-cycle thinking and inquiry-based learning methods, and a collaboratively developed design solution, and 2) knowledge about the effects of combining life-cycle thinking and inquiry-based learning on students' environmental literacy and chemistry attitudes. The validity of the results was examined by researcher and method triangulation. To teach sustainable development, the teachers combined inquiry methods and life-cycle thinking in chemistry in several different ways. They developed 20 novel teaching concepts. The most used concept was an open project work in small groups. In this, the students independently chose a product the life-cycle of which they wanted to investigate. This approach was collaboratively developed into a design solution to teach life-cycle thinking in chemistry. Some of the teachers chose the research focus for their students. There, the investigation tasks included raw materials, consumer products, food or water. The teaching methods in the concepts included making questions, searching and analysing information, forming and presenting results, laboratory experiments, videos, study visits, debate, designing new products, drama, and learning diaries. The design solution, which combined life-cycle thinking and inquiry, increased the students' societal and environmental ideas. They emphasized the importance of environmental protection and recycling. Most students thought that these types of projects could positively affect the youths' environmental literacy. The project work positively affected the students' attitudes towards chemistry. They noticed that one could learn important things about chemistry that are related to the society and everyday life. The students valued the new learning setting, which was independent and social. The method to teach inquiry-based life-cycle thinking in chemistry in this study is a novel example of an inquiry-based approach, which supports versatile studying and citizenship skills, motivates the student to study chemistry and guides the student to take sustainable development into account. The inquiry-based life-cycle thinking is suitable for primary and secondary education, but it can also be applied to other educational levels. The remarks of the theoretical problem- analysis and the results of the empirical design phase can be used for planning chemistry education and chemistry teachers' education related to the issues of sustainable development.