Context-based curriculum reforms in chemistry education are thought to bring greater diversity to the ways in which chemistry teachers organize their teaching. First and foremost, students are expected to perceive this diversity. However, empirical research on how students perceive their teacher's teaching in context-based chemistry classrooms,…

Science education should foster students' epistemological view on models and modelling consistent with formal epistemology in science and technology practices. This paper reports the application of a curriculum unit in the classroom using an authentic chemical practice, "Modelling drinking water treatment", as the context for learning.…

In this study, questions in context-based and traditional chemistry textbooks were analysed from two perspectives that are at the heart of chemistry curricula reforms: a content perspective and a learning activities perspective. To analyse these textbook questions, we developed an instrument for each perspective. In total, 971 textbook questions…

In science education, students should come to understand the nature and significance of models. In the case of chemistry education it is argued that the present use of models is often not meaningful from the students' perspective. A strategy to overcome this problem is to use an authentic chemical modelling practice as a context for a curriculum…

The aim of this study is to understand the design of professional development programmes in teacher-based and context-based chemistry curriculum innovations. Firstly, the goals of these programmes are discussed and related to the concept of empowerment. Next, in a selection of empirical studies, four general strategies for professional development…

This paper reports a study on teachers' domain-specific beliefs about the chemistry curriculum for upper-secondary education in The Netherlands. Teachers' beliefs were investigated using a questionnaire focused on the goals of the chemistry curriculum. The design of the questionnaire was based on three curriculum emphases: "fundamental…

In this paper, we report on a study of the beliefs of chemistry teachers about the teaching and learning of chemistry in upper secondary education in The Netherlands. This study was conducted in the context of the planning of a national revision of the chemistry curriculum towards a context-based approach. Chemistry teachers' beliefs were…