Chemistry curricula in part rely on the use of laboratory demonstrations and experiments. The complex nature of this kind of educational activity has been posing challenges from the very early days of teaching chemistry. As chemistry is an experimental science, one possible approach to make the teaching of this subject more efficient is to use…

This is the start of a road map for the effective introduction of inquiry-based learning in chemistry. Advantages of inquiry-based approaches to the development of scientific literacy are widely discussed in the literature. However, unless chemistry educators take account of teachers' reservations and identified disadvantages such approaches will…