The Establishment of Modern Chemistry Education in German Secondary Schools : Arendt's and Wilbrand's Theories of Chemistry Education

Abstract

Rudolf Arendt (1828-1902) and Ferdinand Wilbrand (1824-1893) were pioneers in the field of chemistry education in German (Prussian) secondary schools in the latter half of the 19th century. In this study, I compare their theories in regard to the objectives, contents, and teaching methods of chemistry education and make clear the importance of their roles in the establishment of modern secondary school chemistry education. (1) They discussed the cultural and educational values that can be acquired through the study of chemistry. They emphasized that the objective of chemistry education is to nurture the student' s scientific thinking, scientific attitude, and inquiry skills. (2) They introduced principles to classify the contents of chemistry education, such as chemical reactions or chemical substances in daily life, and they also maintained that the organization of the contents should consider the student's experience, interests, and understanding. (3) They criticized the usual teaching method of chemistry education, which had aimed only at the increase of knowledge through memorization, and they introduced a new teaching method based on the inductive method, a hypothetical-deductive method, and experiment. The importance of their theories was that they aimed to establish a unified, fundamental principle in modern education and a modern scientific method. Their theories established the fundamental model of modern chemistry education in the German secondary school.