Probing Greek secondary school students’ awareness of green chemistry principles infused in context-based projects related to socio-scientific issues

ABSTRACT

This study aims at investigating students’ awareness of green chemistry principles (GCPs) which are infused in two context-based projects that are related to socio-scientific issues, namely climate change and materials’ recycling. At first, content analysis of the projects’ activities showed the infusion of four GCPs. Subsequently, the students’ written reports associated with these activities were evaluated in order to examine the incorporation of different GCPs in their argumentation. The four principles identified in the first part of the study, were also shown to be incorporated in students’ argumentation, although with variable frequency. The specific themes which manifest students’ awareness of the different GCPs were also identified. These themes may guide the effective design of educational material dedicated to the infusion of GCPs in chemistry education, thus contributing to the promotion of students’ environmental awareness and the development of skills which characterise socially responsible citizenship.

KEYWORDS:

• Green chemistry
• awareness
• socio-scientific issues

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the chemistry teachers for their enthusiastic voluntary involvement during the implementation of the educational material in their classrooms.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).