New Approaches to the Teaching and Learning of Chemistry at Different Educational Levels

The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of the introduction of new methods on the teaching and learning of chemistry in different educational contexts. The key points of this research lie first in the design and then in the assessment stage of the didactic proposals following their implementation in terms of their impact on students’ and teachers’ perceptions of their approach to learning and teaching, respectively. The research explores different learning contexts of chemistry education, starting from the didactics of chemistry addressed to high school students, then concerning the training of high school science teachers, till the development of a suitable method of study and problem solving skills in first year students of a general and inorganic chemistry academic course. Some of the studies were realized in the framework of Piano Lauree Scientifiche whose activities have been contributing for several years to bring the academic world closer to school’s needs, with the common aim to motivate students to scientific careers. In this perspective, the complex task of identifying and measuring the efficacy of these strategies and its impact was described in detail. The choice to undertake this direction was suggested by different factors. The first factor is that, as shown by national and international studies, most students lack basic knowledge regarding general chemical concepts and principles, both at high school level and even in the early university years. The inadequate skills in acquiring the required content knowledge are a deterrent for students wishing to join a university chemistry course or they could hinder their academic success. However, research studies show a wide range of pedagogical strategies whose results have variously contributed to an increased understanding of the learning process in chemistry and, consequently, to more effective methods of instruction. For these targets, high school students and freshmen, some suitable strategies were identified and adopted in this study and its impact analyzed with quantitative and qualitative methods. The second factor is teachers’ increasing need for implementing new instructional strategies that can be motivating and lead students to acquire not only disciplinary knowledge, but even transversal skills, as a suitable method of study or the ability to design an experiment. This implies more training needs to be provided with the aim to encourage and support teachers to develop new teaching conceptions and V practices. A line of research of the present study addressed these teachers’ demands, using a variety of tools and training strategies and analyzing teachers’ opinions and general satisfaction. The third factor is the recognition of the current impact of ICT on both teaching and learning Chemistry at all levels of education. Computer simulations, online resources and freeware programs can help students in better understanding chemical concepts and even develop problem solving skills. On the other hand, instruction in blended modality, integrating online and face-to-face activities, is nowadays widespread, as in the Flipped Classroom methodology, and adopted even for teachers’ training. Furthermore, most of the teachers lack the technical and pedagogical skills to effectively incorporate the use of digital tools to enhance learning and therefore need a help to move from simply technology users to developers of learning units including ICT tools. In three of the four lines of this study, digital tools and blended learning approaches were adopted and their efficacy on users’ learning outcomes and general satisfaction analyzed and reported with qualitative and quantitative methods. The entire PhD project provided information that can contribute to a body of knowledge for the improvement of instruction in chemistry classroom and provided quantitative data to validate the benefits of new approaches on chemistry learning outcomes and motivation to study. My point of view developed in this training, being a high school teacher and researcher during my PhD study, provides me the capacity to capture several issues and the big picture. This thesis includes a general introduction, reporting the barriers to learning Chemistry in the considered educational contexts, the drivers for change and the needs of innovation for teaching and learning Chemistry and four chapters, each one describing a line of research, as synthetically described below.