Chemistry Education Research (CER) from its inception has addressed issues related to teaching and learning of chemistry at various levels. There are two distinct but related aspects of Chemistry Education Research (CER); one is to empirically analyse students’ difficulties and misconceptions in chemistry, the other is to develop methods for effective learning of chemistry. Efforts directed towards updating curricula and syllabi, modernizing teaching strategies and development of instructional material within the country need to be backed by discipline-based research in chemistry (that is, CER) so as to make Chemistry education meaningful.
At HBCSE, some of the CER areas we have been engaged with are
- Problem based/inquiry learning in chemistry laboratories
- Designing experiments for conceptual understanding
- Study of misconceptions (development of concept inventories/diagnostic tools)
- Development of inquiry-based instructional materials
- Understanding epistemic aspects of chemistry
Our work is primarily at higher secondary and tertiary level. We look forward to sustain these efforts with all interested individuals
http://www.hbcse.tifr.res.in/research-development/chemistry-ed