Scientific. Puristic. Advanced.

Chemistry Education as Experience.

Tom Wagner, Founder

I believe that good chemistry education can do more than communicate knowledge. It can encourage people to look more closely, ask questions, develop models, and not trust their first answers too quickly.

I am therefore less interested in what looks particularly spectacular in chemistry education or which new tool happens to be available. What interests me is what learners can genuinely understand – and what they need in order to get there. Sometimes that is an experiment. Sometimes a simulation, a model, or AI. And sometimes progress means leaving something out.

SPACELABS grew out of this mindset. As a space in which we can think about chemistry education scientifically, focus on what matters, and continuously redesign it. Not because new is automatically better. But because education can improve when we are willing to question familiar approaches and consistently develop good ideas further.

In the end, it comes down to something very simple: chemistry should not merely be a subject in which correct answers are learned. It should become an experience from which understanding emerges.

These are the five guiding principles.

Scientific
Inquiry

Chemistry is a model-based science driven by inquiry. Models are developed, hypotheses are formulated and tested, evidence is generated, and claims are examined with regard to their validity and limitations.

Chemistry education does not need to reproduce the full logic of scientific inquiry. But it should increasingly move towards it. Learners should not only know what we know about the world, but understand how knowledge is generated, justified, and tested.

This also matters for democratic judgement. Those who learn to distinguish models from claims, ask for evidence, and revise their own judgement in light of better evidence are better equipped to evaluate information and engage with complex questions in a reasoned way.

For experiments, Scientific means that an experiment should do more than produce an effect. It answers a question, tests hypotheses, and generates evidence that must be observed, analysed, and interpreted through models. The experiment becomes an instrument of inquiry.

Puristic
Structure

Chemistry is complex – scientifically, linguistically, and in the ways knowledge is developed. Puristic therefore does not mean making chemistry as simple as possible. It means designing learning environments that contain what is genuinely needed for the particular process of understanding.

Didactic reduction must not result in a loss of scientific depth. Theory is introduced where it is needed, terminology where it adds conceptual value, and models where they make relationships visible. Complexity is not removed. It is structured.

This also matters for democratic education. Complex questions must be accessible if people are to participate in public discourse. But accessibility must not come at the cost of uncertainty, conditions, or counterarguments disappearing. Reasoned judgement requires clarity without oversimplification.

For experiments, Puristic means reducing apparatus-related, scientific, and methodological complexity wherever it is not required by the question being investigated. Observations should be as clearly interpretable as possible without sacrificing scientific depth. The experiment becomes a clearly structured space for inquiry.

Advanced
Development

Chemistry education cannot remain permanently as it once was. Science changes, technological possibilities evolve, and our understanding of how people learn continues to grow. Advanced therefore means continuously reviewing, developing, and redesigning teaching and learning environments.

Progress does not mean abandoning established approaches or following every innovation. Digital tools, simulations, sensors, or AI are useful where they genuinely extend processes of inquiry and understanding. New is not a value in itself. It has to show what it makes better.

This also matters for democratic education. A changing society needs people who can assess new developments rather than simply accepting or rejecting them, and who can weigh opportunities, risks, and consequences. Education should enable people to critically examine change and help shape the world of tomorrow.

For experiments, Advanced means that school experiments are not a fixed canon. They can be scientifically rethought, simplified in their apparatus, measured more precisely, or connected with digital tools, simulations, and adaptive support. The process of inquiry remains decisive. The modern experiment is not necessarily digital. It is didactically advanced.

Chemistry Education
Educational Space

We understand Chemistry Education more broadly than classroom chemistry teaching alone. It encompasses all processes through which people gain access to chemical knowledge, chemical ways of thinking and working, and the significance of chemistry for their lives and for society.

Chemistry education therefore takes place in schools and universities, in student laboratories, in teacher education and professional development, at informal learning sites, and in science communication. We understand these not as separate worlds, but as parts of a shared educational and experiential space.

This also matters for democratic education. Scientific knowledge must be made accessible in a scientifically appropriate way, communicated clearly, and connected to questions that matter to society. When this enables people to understand relationships, reflect on claims, and form reasoned judgements, chemistry education becomes a foundation for informed participation.

For experiments, Chemistry Education means that experimentation is not tied to a single learning environment. In schools, universities, student laboratories, or science communication, experiments can provide a shared point of access to chemical questions. The experiment connects phenomena, scientific practice, and communication across institutional boundaries.

Experience
Meaning

A phenomenon does not automatically become understanding. An experiment initially creates perception and an event that can be experienced. It becomes scientifically meaningful only when questions emerge, observations are interpreted, evidence is evaluated, and models are used. Experience is the personal way in which understanding becomes meaningful.

Experience therefore also addresses the personal dimension of learning. Chemistry education becomes meaningful when learners not only understand relationships but connect them to their own lives, experiences, and questions that matter to society. Chemistry then becomes more than a school subject – it becomes an experience.

This also matters for democratic education. Participation requires people to experience themselves as capable of judgement and action. Those who can understand scientific information, place it in context, and use it for their own decisions gain orientation in questions concerning the environment, energy, resources, health, or technology. Knowledge enables judgement. Experience enables participation.

For experiments, Experience means that an experiment should do more than create an external event. It should initiate a process of thinking. Observation, interpretation, and concept formation are connected until the perceived phenomenon acquires scientific meaning. The experiment becomes a starting point for experience and understanding.