Learning and Teaching
Aspects of
Inquiry-based Chemistry
Experiment
What is chemistry?
How to help students
learn chemistry?
Why chemistry is difficult to learn?
• Matter can be represented on the
macroscopic, particulate, and symbolic
levels.
• It is important to provide opportunity for
students to link up their understanding
through hands-on activities, processing of
information and thinking.
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Practical work – an important
component in science learning
 Cognitive domain:
Improve pupils’ understanding of
science
Promote their conceptual
development
Illustrate, verify or affirm “theory
work”.
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Practical work – an important
component in science learning
 Skills domain:
 Develop manipulative skills
 Promote higher-level, transferable skills
(such as observation, measurement,
prediction and inference)
 Develop communication skills
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Practical work – an important
component in science learning
 Affective domain :
 Practical work is motivating and exciting
 Generate interest and enthusiasm
 Help learners to remember things
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Two types of practical work
• Verification
• Inquiry-based / Investigation
Inquiry involves raising questions, posing
explanations, testing them for validity, and
presenting the evidence to others.
(Yager, 2001)
What is the present situation?
• “Cookbook” dominated  Ownership?
• Do students have opportunity to decide on
/ think about data collection strategies to
be used in an experiment?
• “Hands-on”  “Minds-on”?
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Science as Inquiry – the NSESs
 Design and conduct a scientific
investigation
 Use appropriate tools and techniques to
gather, analyze and interpret data
 Apply critical thinking skills to establish
relationships between evidence and
explanations
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The NSESs claim that students who are
involved with inquiry are the ones who:
 better understand basic science concepts
 develop an appreciation of "how we know" the
science that we think we know
 understand the real nature of science
 develop the needed skills to become
independent inquirers
 can use the skills, abilities, and attitudes
associated with science and scientists
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ASE’s Recommendation:
• Teaching and learning in science should
provide opportunities for learners to:
– enquire, predict and hypothesize
– explore, observe, investigate and
discover
– solve problems
– discriminate, judge and evaluate
–…
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Excerpts from UK Scheme of Work for KS3
Unit 9M “Investigating scientific questions”
http://www.standards.dfee.gov.uk/pdf/secondaryschemes/sci9m.pdf
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Pan-Canadian Protocol for
Collaboration on School Curriculum
• Skills
It is expected that students will...
– Initiating and planning
– Performing and recording
– Analysing and interpreting
– Communication and teamwork
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Science as Inquiry –
Science education in Hong Kong
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What is an inquiry-based
chemistry experiment?
 addressing problems
 making hypotheses
 designing ALL or PART of the
experimental procedures
 decide what and how data to record, to
analyse and to interpret
 drawing conclusions
 making evaluation
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What do students acquire in
S1-3?
The ability to
 observe closely and carefully
 classify
 measure accurately
 handle equipment and apparatus properly and
safely
 infer from observations and experimental data
 predict
 propose hypotheses
 interpret data
 control variables
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The new chemistry curriculum –
Skills and Thinking Processes
“performing experiments to ……” expect
 more instructions to help students develop
practical skills
“designing and performing experiments to ……”
expect
 less instructions but more space to students to
carry out inquiry-based learning
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The new chemistry curriculum –
Skills and Thinking Processes
Example:
Section 1
Designing and performing chemical
tests for calcium carbonate.
Section 3
Designing and performing
experiments to investigate factors
that influence rusting. [Sample]
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The new chemistry curriculum –
Skills and Thinking Processes
Example:
Section 4
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Designing and performing
experiments to study the role of
water in exhibiting characteristic
property of acid.
Designing and performing
experiments to compare the
strengths of acids/alkalis.
The new chemistry curriculum –
Skills and Thinking Processes
Example:
Section 4
Designing and performing
experiments to study the effects of
concentration, surface area and
temperature on rate of reaction.
Section 5
Designing and performing
electroplating experiments.
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The new chemistry curriculum –
Skills and Thinking Processes
Example:
Section 6
Designing and performing
experiments to make chlorine bleach.
Designing and performing
experiments to prepare sulphur
dioxide.
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The new chemistry curriculum –
Skills and Thinking Processes
Example:
Section 8
Section 9
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Designing and carrying out
experiments to compare cleaning
abilities of soaps and soapless
detergents.
Designing and performing an
investigation to deduce the chemical
nature of a given sample.
Prepare for implementation
• Analyse current situation and reflect
critically
– Strength Weakness Opportunity Threat
(SWOT)
– review current practice
– understand culture
• Share experience
• Develop vision and visualize potential
benefits
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Resources for implementation
• Resources on inquiry-based chemistry
experiments
•
•
•
•
– acquire
– modify
– develop
Equipment and apparatus
Textbooks
Reference books
MSDS
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Prepare people for implementation
• Team building
– panel chairman
– teachers
– laboratory technician
• Work and teach collaboratively to bring the best
•
•
skills to make learning meaningful
Find creative ways of looking at using existing
resources and making better use of them
Develop mission and implementation plan
together
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Implementing tip #1
• Prepare students to
– review their concepts and understanding
about scientific investigation or inquiry
– develop their and practical skills
– learn how to develop a plan and write a
report
• Allow students to use inquiry for learning
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Implementing tip #2
• Remind students to consider safety issues
• Provide adequate safety instruction and
feedbacks to students’ plans
• Provide personal protection equipment
(PPE) and access to fume cupboard etc.
for students and remind them to use
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Prepare for implementation
• Be ready for
– noise (unavoidable for active learning, healthy
phenomenon)
– encountering a little messy at start
– students are not ready to write their own
reports, start with small
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Evaluation
• Work with students, laboratory technicians
and fellow teachers to review the
implementation
• Positive and negative comments are
equally useful
• Be prepare to make changes and seek
ways to improve
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How many?
• What is the number of inquiry-based
chemistry experiments needed?
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Reference Article
• Title: A Model for Extending Hands-On Science to Be
•
•
•
Inquiry Based.
Author: Huber, Richard A.; Moore, Christopher J.
Source: School Science & Mathematics, Jan 2001, Vol.
101 Issue 1, p32
Abstract: Presents a model describing one approach
for extending hands-on activities into inquiry-based
science lessons. Disadvantages of student's
engagement in worksheet and textbook-based handson activities; Facilitation of students in planning
investigation; Implication for the professional
development of science teachers.
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Reference Book
• Title: Inquiry-based
•
•
experiments in
chemistry
Author: Valerie
Ludwig Lechtanski
Publisher: Washington,
D.C. : American
Chemical Society ;
Oxford : Oxford
University Press, 2000.
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Thank You