2021 Volume 62 Issue 1 Pages 49-60
In developing competency-oriented chemistry education, especially from the perspective of the development of students’ competency, learning “contexts” tend to be emphasized. In this paper, the author firstly pointed out that behind the scenes, context is regarded as an inseparable component of competency, that is, the concept of capabilities. The author subsequently conducted a case analysis of exemplarischen schulinternen Lehrplan (examples of in-school curriculum) for chemistry education at the lower level of Gymnasium in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. The following four points were clarified as characteristics of context-setting in competency-oriented chemistry education: (1) Regarding competencies described in close connection with specific themes (e.g. “sustainability”), the defined contexts are to some extent limited to what accords with the themes. (2) Regarding competencies required in many learning situations of chemistry such as performing an inquiry (experiment) and recording or describing results, contexts covering a wide range of contents are set, the meaning and value of which are demonstrated by the fact that utilizing various contexts is, in itself, indispensable to developing the relevant competencies. (3) Each context derived from personal domains, social and society domains, and scientific and technological domains, is set throughout three grade levels in a relatively equal manner. (4) Even for contexts of the same type, competencies that are aimed to be developed intensively vary depending on pre-set grade levels.
