As the earliest surviving complete agricultural book in China, Qi Min Yao Shu is known as the “Encyclopedia of Ancient Agriculture”. This article deeply analyzes the chemical concepts in Qi Min Yao Shu, including the concepts of material change and transformation, the concept of material properties determining use, the green chemistry concept of resource utilization, and the scientific exploration concept of experimentation and practice, and explores their value in high school teaching. In high school chemistry teaching, the knowledge of plant dyes and dyeing, salt making methods, dietary techniques, and other chemical knowledge contained in Qi Min Yao Shu can be used as vivid teaching materials to expand interdisciplinary teaching content and cultivate students’ comprehensive abilities. Through the exploration of teaching resources, we aim to find effective ways to integrate ancient agricultural books into middle school chemistry teaching, in order to assist teachers in better applying Chinese excellent traditional culture to chemistry teaching, creating more profound and meaningful classrooms that can stimulate students’ interest in learning and cultural identity.

This study redevelops textbook contextual materials through a dual lens of curriculum standards and student learning profiles. Centered on the theme “lightweight guardians: metal materials for mobile phone casings”, the framework incorporates two authentic tasks: (1) selecting optimal metal materials for phone casings and (2) simulating industrial processes (e.g., oxide layer removal and formation). By embedding the study of aluminum and aluminum oxide’s chemical properties within these tasks, the design systematically cultivates students’ conceptual understanding of “composition-structure-property-application” relationships. The findings offer a pedagogical model for curriculum reconstruction oriented towards core competencies.

Micro-project learning is carried out around the real problem situation of “why is there no salt factory in Zhongshan”, aiming to achieve seamless connection between the “preparation and purification of crude salt” experiment in junior high school and the “purification of crude salt” experiment in senior high school, helping students build a material separation model; conducting interdisciplinary discussions on “Zhongshan’s geographical location characteristics and climate conditions” to cultivate students’ interdisciplinary scientific thinking. This learning model based on real problems closely combines knowledge learning with practical application,effectively stimulates students’ interest in learning and desire to explore,and realizes the teaching exploration of the connection between junior high school and high school in only 1 class hour.

With “explore better materials for hydrogen storage” as a micro-project,“material structure and properties” module integrated “principles of chemical reactions”module was mainly reviewed.Lesson one consists of four core tasks:from finding a better hydrogen storage method to finding a better hydrogen storage process,the scope is gradually narrowed to finding higher-performance hydrogen storage materials based on the chemical hydrogen absorption form in solid-state hydrogen storage,and then the scope is expanded to imagine more ideal hydrogen production,hydrogen storage,and hydrogen use scenarios in the future.In the progressive task,on the one hand,it mainly focuses on the crystal structure review of hydrogen storage materials,and the regulation of chemical reactions around the absorption and release of hydrogen storage materials.On the other hand,it provides a large number of situational materials,and with the help of VESTA software,sets up open questions and other means to achieve evidence reasoning,model construction,micro analysis,innovation consciousness and social responsibility cultivation.

Junior high school students are easily affected by preconcepts when learning molecules and atoms, and have a wrong understanding of the ontology, function and symbol of microscopic particles. The research combs the discipline logic of the particle perspective in the biology, physics and chemistry textbooks of the People’s Education Press Edition, and sorts out the questions of the previous students after the new course learning. The teaching is designed and implemented in the order of scale change, particle ontology, particle interaction and the symbolic representation of particles. The classroom teaching better solves the problem that students are not interested in similar physical knowledge, and it is difficult to visualize particles due to conceptual abstraction, and promotes students to put forward new problems from the macro-micro and micro-micro perspectives after class, which lays a good foundation for the in-depth study of the micro-particle perspective in the second class. Finally, research based on the actual teaching situation of the two classes, the teaching suggestions of different levels of classes are put forward.

Using the question of “why silver sulfadiazine exhibits long-lasting antibacterial effects” as a situation for problem-based learning, this paper explores the dissociation equilibrium of coordination compounds. By evaluating experimental designs and interpreting experimental phenomena, students establish connections between evidence and conclusions. They analyze the transformations of coordination compounds in biological systems to construct models that elucidate the stability and transformation of these compounds from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. This approach fosters students’ critical thinking skills, including analyzing, evaluating, reasoning, and questioning.

Chemistry spatial ability plays an important role in the development of “spatial concept”, and the chemistry spatial construction ability is an important part of chemistry spatial ability. On the basis of the existing chemistry spatial ability composition, this article described the development and validation of an instrument for measuring the spatial construction ability of chemistry teachers. The study found that the test tool had good validity and reliability. Based on the results from this instrument, the differences between pre-service and in-service chemistry teachers’ chemistry spatial construction ability were analyzed. And this paper analyzed the problems and put forward the suggestions on teacher training.

This study aims to investigate the impact of different chemical situational materials on students’ chemistry attitudes. During the teaching of concentrated sulfuric acid properties, different teaching contexts were created. Through quantitative analysis methods, this research compares the effects of positive and negative chemical situational materials on students’ chemistry attitudes. The findings reveal that high school students generally have a low level of chemistry attitudes. Moreover, positive chemical teaching materials significantly enhance students’ chemistry attitudes, while negative materials have a detrimental impact. Based on the research outcomes, specific recommendations for teachers on selecting and adjusting situational materials are provided from perspectives such as material choice and processing.

This paper tries to further explore the phenomenon of the silver mirror reaction under the guidance of the mechanism of the silver mirror reaction. This experiment explored the availability of the fast generation of silver mirrors through the increase of the concentration of Ag⁺ or OH^- in the silver ammonia solution or the increase of the concentration of acetaldehyde. In this paper, it was found that when acetaldehyde was added into the newly-made silver ammonia solution, and then the alcohol lamp was used to heat the test tube, the silver mirror could be generated in a shorter time. It was also discovered that using NaOH to properly enhance the alkaline of the silver ammonia solution or adding acetaldehyde vapor into the silver ammonia solution, the silver mirror could be generated quickly at room temperature. The new experiment was simple to operate with a higher chance of success, which stimulated students’ great enthusiasm for scientific research and cultivated their creativity and scientific spirits.

Taking the “abnormal phenomenon” caused by students adding potassium thiocyanate to a test solution containing divalent iron and then dripping hydrogen peroxide as a scenario, this study explores the reasons for the fading of blood red color, the products of the conversion of thiocyanate, and the composition and causes of bubbles after standing, forming a general idea of scientific inquiry and implementing the chemical core literacy of evidence reasoning.

This paper used handheld technologies such as chloride ion concentration sensors, multi parameter conductivity salinity meter, and high-precision refractometers to simply measure the solubility curve of sodium chloride. The experimental data were briefly analyzed by using CRC Handbook of Chemical Physics, Handbook of Ran’s Chemistry and 9th Grade Chemistry Volume 2 of People’s Education Press. The thermodynamics principle was used to analyze the process of sodium chloride dissolved in water, and the experimental data were briefly evaluated. The application of simple mapping of sodium chloride solubility curve by handheld technology in teaching was preliminarily discussed.

The adsorption process of activated carbon on fuchsin was quantitatively determined by handheld technology (Vernier colorimeter), and a systematic analysis was performed in combination with Python software. The results showed that the adsorption of fuchsin on activated carbon had two stages: rapid (0-1 h) and slow (1 h-4 h), and the adsorption equilibrium was reached in 4 h, with the maximum adsorption amount of 22.46 mg/g; the Redlich-Peterson model (R²=0.997 0) and the Langmuir model (R²=0.995 1) had the best fitting effect, indicating that monolayer adsorption was the dominant mechanism; the fitting degree of the pseudo-second-order kinetic model (R²=0.992 7) was better than that of the pseudo-first-order model, revealing that chemical adsorption dominated the process. By turning the qualitative experiment of traditional activated carbon adsorption of pigments into quantitative research, a complete experimental process from phenomenon observation to mechanism exploration is provided, which can not only help teachers improve their scientific understanding of the adsorption process, but also provide a reference for middle school chemistry experimental teaching and interdisciplinary practical activities.

Based on experimental exploration, the ion behavior of Cu²⁺, Fe²⁺ and SCN^- in aqueous solutions was comprehensively analyzed. The composition analysis of the product CuSCN was carried out using XRD and XPS. Its generation mechanism was calculated and explored too.

The hydrolysis equilibrium of salts, as a follow-up to chemical equilibrium and ionization equilibrium in high school chemistry, plays a significant role in establishing students’ understanding of equilibrium concepts. To deal with the misjudgment of color changes caused by adding hydrochloric acid to FeCl₃ hydrolysis equilibrium (as described in textbooks), a series of experiments were conducted by replacing concentrated hydrochloric acid with concentrated sulfuric acid or nitric acid. It was found that adding one drop of concentrated sulfuric acid or nitric acid to 0.01 mol/L FeCl₃ solution resulted in the fading of the yellow color, revealing the intrinsic color of hydrated iron ions:pale purple. Further experiments involving the gradual addition of concentrated nitric acid to 1 mol/L Fe(NO₃)₃ solution demonstrated that the solution color was influenced by the coordination between Fe³⁺ and NO^-₃. This investigation into the cause of the yellow color in FeCl₃ hydrolysis equilibrium may provide valuable insights for potential revisions to textbook content.

Through experiments and the Nernst equation, it has been proven that at room temperature and in the absence of oxygen, copper undergoes a displacement reaction with concentrated hydrochloric acid, resulting in the formation of monovalent copper complexes and hydrogen gas; at room temperature and in aerobic (air) conditions, the reaction of copper with dilute hydrochloric acid is beneficial to the formation of divalent copper, while copper reacts with hydrochloric acid of relatively not very low concentration to preferentially produce monovalent copper. The displacement reaction between metal and acid is related to many factors, such as the activity of metal, the concentration of H⁺, the species and concentration of acid radical ions, and the morphology or solubility of metal ions in the product. It is suggested that the inference “in the order of metal activity, the metal behind hydrogen cannot replace hydrogen from acids” should be used with caution in teaching.

Carbonium ions are an important part of organic chemistry. This article discusses in detail the various pathways for the formation of carbonium ions. In terms of structure and stability, the article explores the factors affecting the stability of carbonium ions based on their two main structural types. Through the analysis of these factors, the article attempts to integrate and interconnect issues related to functional group structure and properties, organic reactions and mechanisms, and regioselectivity in fundamental organic reactions.

School citizen science, as a paradigm linking scientific research and education, has become a crucial pathway in American science education. The study finds that its core objective is to cultivate “scientific citizens” with both scientific literacy and social responsibility. Through the mechanism of “integration of scientific research and educational objectives”, real scientific research tasks are integrated into teaching practices. Relying on a “scientists-teachers-students-community” multi-stakeholder collaborative model, teachers act as bridges to build an ecology with coupled interests, achieving a win-win situation for scientific data acquisition, teaching goal realization, and community problem-solving. Online platforms such as Scistarter are leveraged to integrate project resources, while a multi-department vertical policy system led by the federal government ensures project standardization. American experience inspires China to strengthen policy guidance and cross-departmental collaboration, promote deep integration of research, education, and community needs, optimize teacher training to enhance scientific research transformation capabilities, and provide systematic support for cultivating new-era scientific citizens.

In 1861-1862, British chemist Crookes and French chemist Lamy discovered thallium (Tl) while analyzing spectra of mineral residues. In the early 20th century, Tl was widely used in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, and gradually replaced due to its health risks. However, Tl and its compounds were applied in modern medicine, scientific research, and industry due to their radioactive, optical properties, and high-temperature superconductivity in the mid to late 20th century. The application history of Tl demonstrates the importance of safety awareness and scientific ethics, thus reveal the connection between scientific progress and social responsibility. The potential risks and ethical issues should not be ignored during technological innovation, and scientific developments must be ensured for human interest.