About CERP

Current Issue

Past Issues

Note on Safety

Reviewers of CERP

Call for Papers

Guidelines for Submissions

Submission Form (PDF)

Help

Home

CHEMISTRY EDUCATION:
RESEARCH AND PRACTICE IN EUROPE

2000, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 161-168
THE PRACTICE OF CHEMISTRY
EDUCATION(PAPER)

Chemical education in Europe:
Curricula and policies
Contents     Previous Page
Next Page

Georgios TSAPARLIS
University of Ioannina, Department of Chemistry

THE STATES-OF-MATTER APPROACH (SOMA)
TO INTRODUCTORY CHEMISTRY

ABSTRACT: Chemistry, as an upper-secondary school subject for all, should aim to supply students with chemical literacy and chemical culture, to cultivate higher-order cognitive skills, and to be a useful, interesting, and enjoyable subject. A recently proposed chemistry programme for all students in grades ten and eleven (ages 15-17) in Greece, introduces chemistry through the separate study of the three states of matter [the states-of-matter approach (SOMA)]. There are three major units in the programme, namely: air and gases; salt, salts, and solids; water and liquids. The gaseous state is introduced first because it is the best prelude to the study of atoms and molecules; only a few non-metals and compounds, with small and simple molecules are studied. Ions, ionic bonds, or intermolecular forces are not involved until the unit of solids, as only the covalent bond is needed in the unit of gases. By placing the solid state second, we can study liquid solutions as well as acids and bases within the unit of liquids. The programme then moves into the applications of chemistry: plastics and polymers; drugs; foodstuffs; energy. Inorganic and organic chemistry are partially integrated. The overall approach is intermediate between a formal ('academist') and a science-technology-environment-society (STES) ('practicalist') one, while constructivist teaching and learning is incorporated. [Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. Eur.: 2000, 1, 161-168]

KEY WORDS: upper-secondary school chemistry; chemistry for all; programme of studies; Greece; states-of-matter approach; constructivist teaching and learning; integration of inorganic and organic chemistry

 

 

 

University's Logo
University Of Ioannina

 
Contents     Previous Page
Next Page


[About CERP] [Current Issue] [Past Issues] [Note on Safety]
[
Reviewers of CERP] [New Call for Papers] [Guidelines for Submissions]
[
Submission Form (PDF)][Help] [Home]