Supporting the Relevance of Chemistry Education through Sustainable Ionic Liquids Context: A Research-Based Design Approach

By introducing the sustainable nature of chemistry to students—makers of the future—teachers, and teacher students we can promote their scientific literacy and increase understanding of the relevance of chemistry research and studies in sustainability. Ionic liquids are a topical example of innovation of green chemistry research offering many possibilities for sustainable chemistry education. This article describes how to develop research-based learning materials on ionic liquids using educational design research as a design strategy. The design process included two cycles and the initial design solution was iterated via a qualitative case study conducted with future chemistry teachers. The main result of this research is the designed context-based activity that engages learners with individual, vocational, and societal levels of relevance. In addition, the study produced new insights into future chemistry teachers’ perceptions of ionic liquids’ possibilities in a chemistry learning context. According to future chemistry teachers, ionic liquids are an interesting new context for laboratory learning and can increase interest in chemistry studies.