Chemistry teachers’ opinions on and attitudes to the implementation of systemic tasks into teaching in Slovakia

Abstract

The goal of the research was to determine the opinions and attitudes of chemistry teachers regarding systemic tasks and their implementation into organic chemistry teaching at grammar schools. To achieve this goal, a set of work sheets with systemic tasks were created for the following topics in organic chemistry: Introduction to Organic Chemistry, Hydrocarbons, Hydrocarbon Derivates, Hydroxyderivatives and Carboxylic acids and their derivatives. This paper demonstrates examples of the systemic tasks that have been created to develop higher-order cognitive processes. 89 teachers used these tasks to teach 2136 second-year grammar school students over the course of two years (2019–2021). A questionnaire designed by the authors was used to collect the opinions of the teachers who participated in the presented research regarding the pros and cons of teaching using systemic tasks from the viewpoints of student motivation, deeper understanding of organic chemistry, students’ ability to tackle such tasks, skill development, and time requirements. [African Journal of Chemical Education—AJCE 13(4), December 2023]