Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 8.1
Aspects of everyday
life and sources of students'
experiences [
4
]
Air
d
r
i
lt
o
materials through their advertisement, which impress pupils in a dedicated way.
Such connections should also be identified and discussed.
4.
How can objective criticism and attitude changes be encouraged?
Chemistry
classes, which adequately consider everyday life and environmental issues,
would account - next to similar education by the parents - for critical abilities
and attitude change. Well-prepared excursions to industrial complexes or purifi-
cation plants and recycling companies are also qualified to revise preconceived
opinions and to develop new images.
Students' interests.
Another issue stems from questions before: What kind of
interest do pupils have in dedicated themes of everyday life and environmental
chemistry? The answer to this question can be interesting for teachers because one
intended project, often the only project in the school year, should appeal to
students' interests - otherwise the teacher perhaps teaches against the interests of
all students, or of the boys or of the girls.
To answer this question, an empirical study was planned and a questionnaire was
developed (see Fig.
8.2
). It was distributed to 200 students of age 15-18 years
(classes 9-11) in 1986 at a secondary school near Hannover in Germany, and in
1995 at a secondary school in Jena, also Germany [
5
]. The evaluation took gender
into account to elicit special interests of boys and girls (see Table
8.1
).
Some of the proposed topics are interesting only for boys or only for girls, and
many topics suggest very little interest by boys as well as girls (see Table
8.1
).
Every teacher, if possible, should arrange their own specific survey on location
because the range of interests is greatly controlled by the region around the school;
and they should be able to evaluate which topic is qualified for the class or which
excursion is favored by the students.
Household chemicals and interest.
A further pilot study shows how far the
interest of students can be increased if household chemicals instead of laboratory
