Conditions for Experimental Activities at Elementary and High Schools from Chemistry Teachers’ Point of View

Abstract

Abstract School experiments represent a necessary means of subject-matter presentation in chemistry education and are important for chemical (scientific) thinking. Despite being a focus of several texts, a complex view on the experimental activity in chemistry education in Czechia is missing. The results of a questionnaire survey among 466 lower-secondary, lyceum and grammar school teachers focused on types of conducted experiments, their frequency, the place they are conducted. The most frequently used chemicals and sources of inspiration are presented in the paper. The results show that despite experiments’ significant role in education, its occurrence is rather seldom and teacher’s demonstrations prevail over students’ experiments. The list of the most often used chemicals suggests the experiments are mostly focused on inorganic chemistry. These results open further questions regarding occupational safety at schools as an important factor which could also be the reason for such a low representation of experiments in Czech chemistry education.