Getting Involved: Context-Based Learning in Chemistry Education - Affective Dimensions in Chemistry Education - page 56

3.1 Example 1: Fuels for Our Future: A Topic Not Only
for Boys!

Fuels, both for combustion and electrochemical engines, are an important topic in
many chemistry curricula around the world. The basic concepts needed to explain
the functionality of fuels are the redox concept (or more general the concept of
chemical reactions) and the energy concept. Relevant studies, however, such as
ROSE showed that especially female students show little interest in these topics
(Holstermann & B¨geholz, 2007 ; Jenkins & Nelson, 2005 ). For the development of
Chemie im Kontext modules, we took these results into consideration and broad-
ened the perspectives around the given topic. The modules not only consider
technical and chemical aspects but also include social, societal, and economic/
enterprising perspectives. The range of activities involves students

ideas (auton-
omy), group work, and links to out-of-school activities and relevant political and
economic questions (social embeddedness). Different levels of tasks and areas of
competence [such as subject-matter knowledge, scientific processes, communica-
tion, or evaluation, following the outline of the German standards (KMK, 2004 )]
aim at supporting the perception of competence for a range of students.
The structure of a module about the hydrogen car is briefly presented in Fig. 1 .
The content knowledge deals with redox reactions and the design and function of
fuel cells. The students thereby learn about a technique that is already more than
100 years old but has only recently become promising again for societal reasons:
the growing demand for mobility cannot be fulfilled anymore because of the
shortage of crude oil and fossil fuels in the future.
During the exploration of the topic, the students become aware that they cannot
decide against or in favor of this technique based solely on chemical knowledge.
Other components about environmental considerations, prices, and supply or

'

Personal
relevance,
interest

Phase of contact
Debate : Do we want hydrogen cars on our streets?

Phase of curiosity and planning
Mind Map : Criteria for investigation?

Identify
important
questions

Inquiry,
results,
presentation

Phase of elaboration
Learning cycle : types and function of fuel cells
Presentation & discussion : evaluation?

Reflection,
discussion,
personal
relevance

Phase of deepening and connecting
Teacher-student-talk: physical constants
application : energy use in other contexts

Fig. 1 Chemie im Kontext structure of the module on hydrogen cars and fuel cells (upper
secondary level)