Abstract Chemistry education originates from chemistry and it is an important branch of science education. On the basis of reviewing the different development paths of chemistry education research in China and western countries,it is proposed that chemistry education in China should strive to change from the paradigm of pedagogy to the paradigm of empirical research. This paper discusses the three main topics of evidence-based chemistry education research,namely,research problems,theoretical basis and research methods. Moreover,it introduces writing norms of evidence-based chemistry education research,and finally it puts forward some suggestions for promoting empirical research in the chemistry education field in China.
