GREEN CHEMISTRY TEACHING FOR SUSTAINABILITY IN PAPERS PUBLISHED BY THE JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION

Abstract

This paper discusses 286 proposals and reports of Green Chemistry (GC) teaching experiences, in papers of the Journal of Chemical Education (JCEd) until 2019. The analysis was based on previous categories: source-problem, paper focus, subjects/area of knowledge, target groups, GC contents, type of approach and purpose(s) of the proposal. A list of possible characteristics of each category served as an example to compare with the information resulting from the analyses, and thus improve the discussions. In 127 papers, GC and its teaching were associated, albeit generally, with the theme of sustainability/sustainable development, which points to its potential to face environment-related aspects of chemistry in teaching. A systemic vision in the interconnection between GC and sustainability/sustainable development appeared more explicitly in 39 papers up to 2019. So far, the analysis highlights a certain reproduction of traditional chemistry teaching, and little evidence of the particularities of GC teaching. Despite the intention of inserting GC into chemistry teaching, proposals for its incorporation are often made superficially, more as an addendum or an extra quality than a specific goal. More methodological detail of the experiments carried out is needed to help in the dissemination of GC in the training curriculum of chemists. The discussions and reports on teaching approaches based on Systems Thinking showed the opening of a promising new methodological challenge within this theoretical paradigm.