Exploring opportunities to incorporate systems thinking into secondary and tertiary chemistry education through practitioner perspectives

Author(s):  
Seamus Delaney ◽  
Joseph Paul Ferguson ◽  
Madeleine Schultz
2019 ◽  
Vol 96 (12) ◽  
pp. 2794-2804 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn A. Hurst ◽  
J. Chris Slootweg ◽  
Alina M. Balu ◽  
Maria S. Climent-Bellido ◽  
Antonio Gomera ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 594-605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ya-Chun Chen ◽  
Kimberley Wilson ◽  
Huann-shyang Lin

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.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (24) ◽  
pp. 7123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonardo Marcelino ◽  
Jesper Sjöström ◽  
Carlos Alberto Marques

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.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter G. Mahaffy ◽  
Alain Krief ◽  
Henning Hopf ◽  
Goverdhan Mehta ◽  
Stephen A. Matlin

2019 ◽  
Vol 96 (12) ◽  
pp. 2689-2699 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. C. Constable ◽  
Concepción Jiménez-González ◽  
Stephen A. Matlin

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 6-10
Author(s):  
Mahaffy Peter ◽  
Matlin Stephen ◽  
Potgieter Marietjie ◽  
Saha Bipul ◽  
Visa Aurelia ◽  
...  

Abstract A 3-year IUPAC project Systems Thinking in Chemistry for Sustainability: Toward 2030 and Beyond (STCS 2030+, IUPAC Project #2020-014-3-050) [1] launched in late 2020 is breaking important new ground in addressing chemistry’s orientations, roles, and responsibilities in the 21st Century and helping to map out implications for chemistry education, research, and practice. In taking on this ambitious task, STCS 2030+ draws on expertise available within IUPAC’s own structures, as a project co-sponsored by three IUPAC standing committees: the Committee on Chemistry Education (CCE), the Committee on Chemistry and Industry (COCI) and the Interdivisional Committee on Green Chemistry for Sustainable Development (ICGCSD). The project is also working with other organizations, such as the International Organization for Chemical Sciences in Development (IOCD), which is a co-supporter, and involves collaborators with individuals from organizations that include the Stockholm Resilience Centre [2], the American Chemical Society (ACS) Green Chemistry Institute [3], the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development (IYBSSD 2022-23) [4], and chemistry educators and chemical industry from around the world.


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