scholarly journals International Perspectives on Green and Sustainable Chemistry Education via Systems Thinking

2019 ◽  
Vol 96 (12) ◽  
pp. 2794-2804 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn A. Hurst ◽  
J. Chris Slootweg ◽  
Alina M. Balu ◽  
Maria S. Climent-Bellido ◽  
Antonio Gomera ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systems Thinking ◽  
Chemistry Education ◽  
Sustainable Chemistry ◽  
International Perspectives

Toward a Green and Sustainable Chemistry Education Road Map

2020 ◽  
Vol 97 (8) ◽  
pp. 2104-2113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer J. MacKellar ◽  
David J. C. Constable ◽  
Mary M. Kirchhoff ◽  
James E. Hutchison ◽  
Eric Beckman
Keyword(s):  
Chemistry Education ◽  
Sustainable Chemistry ◽  
Road Map

Identifying the challenging characteristics of systems thinking encountered by undergraduate students in chemistry problem-solving of gas laws

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 594-605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ya-Chun Chen ◽  
Kimberley Wilson ◽  
Huann-shyang Lin
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Systems Thinking ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Teaching Strategies ◽  
Chemistry Education ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Assessment Instrument ◽  
Complex Chemistry ◽  
Chemistry Education Research

Systems thinking has been an educational priority for more than a decade, yet its related assessment and teaching strategies have been understudied in the chemistry education research community. Through the lens of systems thinking, this study explores how undergraduate students connect and translate their conceptual representations when they are involved in contextualised problem-solving. The ‘Contextualised Problem Solving’ (CPS) assessment instrument contains four open-ended questions about gas law. Three different cohorts of students registered in a physical science course (2016 Fall, 2017 Spring, 2017 Fall semesters) participated in the problem-solving component of CPS. The results showed that only 8% of students were capable of higher order systems thinking ability when they engaged in problem solving. Over half of the students failed to retrieve essential concepts in problem situations. Most of the participants demonstrated difficulties in organising related systems’ components, understanding the cyclic nature of relationships among systems, and identifying limitations in a specific problem context. By identifying the difficulties and challenges of systems thinking experienced by undergraduate students in solving complex chemistry problems, these findings have the potential to provide fresh insights into effective teaching strategies to promote students’ higher order thinking skills.

scholarly journals Socio-Problematization of Green Chemistry: Enriching Systems Thinking and Social Sustainability by Education

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (24) ◽  
pp. 7123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonardo Marcelino ◽  
Jesper Sjöström ◽  
Carlos Alberto Marques
Keyword(s):  
Green Chemistry ◽  
Systems Thinking ◽  
Chemistry Education ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Social Sustainability ◽  
Social Dimension ◽  
The Social

The current research on systems thinking criticizes the additive nature of green chemistry (GC) not being supportive of systems thinking to achieve holism in its practices. This paper argues that systems thinking should comprise of the social issues, and, therefore, it studies renowned papers by GC pioneers and reviews on the field regarding how they address the social dimension of sustainability. It points out how GC has ignored social sustainability in its discourses, practices, and evaluations, leading to a reductionist interpretation of sustainability. Then, this paper presents some challenges to be overcome in order to achieve balanced sustainability. A systemic chemical thinking is advocated, considering chemistry in culture and chemistry as culture, expanding the chemistry rationality from ontological and technological dimensions into the epistemological and ethical ones. It is then discussed how chemistry education can help to promote sustainability in a broad and systemic way.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document