A research approach to designing chemistry education using authentic practices as contexts

Abstract

We discuss how to reduce the incongruence between outcomes (both cognitive and affective) of conventional secondary chemistry curriculum and what is to be attained: the meaningful connection of students' learning to daily life and societal issues. This problem is addressed by a design study with one curriculum unit about 'Water Quality'. With several research cycles using developmental research, we developed an emergent understanding about an instructional framework for curriculum units that embodies a coherent 'need-to-know' principle and is based on authentic practices. Using this framework we show with some other examples how a context-based chemistry curriculum can be constructed on basis of the developed ‘need-to-know’ principle.