A Consumer Chemistry Case Study to Promote Inquiry-Based Learning

The experience-based work here reported is related to the study of a well-known product, the cat litter, by secondary school 14-15 years old students. This material offers different starting points for a critical examination, e. g. questions related to cat litters physical properties, information on chemical composition provided, environmental and health issues. In particular, silica gel cat litter chemical composition has been investigated by an inquiry-based learning approach. The chemistry concepts learning assessment of the involved students has been compared with the assessment related to the students control group. Feedbacks from the classes are also reported. The different learning outcomes show that educating future citizens is more effective if the students are helped by their teachers in relating correctly what they learn in school to their daily lives.