Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
Application oriented
Limescale remover in the household (group work)
Environment oriented
Sulfuric acid recycling (excursion)
Activity oriented
Producing soft drinks with citric acid (group work)
Project oriented
Acidic rain and environment protection (pair work)
The umbrella term for all didactical approaches should be the problem-oriented
idea for lessons. The problem-oriented approach also includes the step sequence
according to Schmidkunz-Lindemann [
37
]. This model for the strategy of problem
solving in science lessons distinguishes five steps:
1. Presenting the problem
2. Considerations of the problem solution
3. Attempting a way to solve the problem
4. Abstraction of the gained knowledge
5. Saving the knowledge [
37
]
Experiments naturally play an important role in this approach: introductory
experiments for “presenting the problem,” further experiments for “considering
and solving the problem” by proving a hypothesis, repeating experiments for
“saving the knowledge.”
The
history-problem-oriented approach
was developed by Jansen [
38
] to put a
focus on the history of chemistry. This didactical approach assumes that “the
history of chemistry should not be regarded as unnecessary ballast that - according
to the latest state of science - can be eliminated. The history of chemistry has to be
set in relation to the content. The point is that the student has to gain insight into the
natural scientific view of the world. The teacher also needs to point out that not all
theories are deduced in an empirical inductive way, instead they may have been
invented in a speculative way” [
38
].
At the end we will take a closer look at the
project-oriented approach
. School
projects have been discussed since the early twentieth century, culminated in the
1960s, and since then also found entrance into high school education. They can
either take place during a whole week (project week) or they are carried out within
the regular schedule. With the “basic patterns of the project method,” Frey [
39
]
gives planning aid to run a project from the student's initiative to the project close-
out in about seven steps (see Fig.
3.11
). One example for this kind of project is
“water and environment” [
40
]: this project was realized in a ninth grade class over a
period of eight weeks during normal chemistry lessons of 2 h per week.
M
unzinger and Frey [
41
] mention the following characteristics of the project
method:
€
1. Need oriented: students' interests start the project
2. Situation oriented: student's everyday life should be in the center
3. Interdisciplinarity: crossing boarders to other subjects like physics, biology,
and others
4. Self-organization: students set objectives, plan and carry out
5. Product oriented: the project is oriented towards a result or a special product
6. Collective realization: division of labor for all participants and social learning
