Engaging students in design has great potential for promoting learning in science education, and design practices have been gaining emphasis in national science curricula in recent years. In the actual success of this type of instruction, teachers play a key role. Many recommended teaching practices for design-based science education hinge on teachers’ attention to what and how students are learning as they are engaged in design. Gaining insight in student learning in the course of instruction means that teachers have the opportunity to tailor their actions to students’ learning needs, and enhance student learning during a learning process. While previous research showed that teachers’ attention to student learning differs between types of instruction, characterisations of teacher attention in secondary school, design-based science settings remained scarce. Attending to student learning has, nevertheless, been posited as particularly important yet complex in design-based classrooms due to design’s multifaceted and open-ended nature. The reform-based character of design-based science education further contributes to this complexity, which also pertains to design-based chemistry education. Chemistry has, however, seldom been featured in design-based education research, despite design’s central role in the chemistry discipline, and in chemistry curricula... ... Read more

Bringing design practices to chemistry education is gaining interest with recent science curriculum reforms emphasising design, and calls for integrated STEM education. Design is a central practice in the chemistry discipline, and could foster meaningful chemistry education. Although chemistry teachers are key in bringing design to chemistry classrooms, and in realising design’s potential for learning, little is known about their views on teaching and learning regarding design. To reduce this gap in literature, we explored chemistry teachers’ pedagogical ideas in the context of a Dutch professional learning community on design in chemistry education. We elicited teachers’ ideas through semi-structured interviews and lesson forms which teachers kept while implementing a design project. Multiple patterns emerged through analysing teachers’ ideas. We found that the teachers did not see teaching design as a goal of chemistry education. Instead, teachers valued design as a teaching approach to engage students in applying chemistry concepts, in developing soft skills, and in applying or developing research practices. In this paper, we present more patterns in teachers’ ideas, and discuss possible explanations of these findings in depth. Finally, we give suggestions for future research, and teacher professional development that may help support a change to bring design into chemistry education. ... Read more

Professioneleontwerpersmakentijdenseenontwerpprocesvoortdurendtussenproductenzoalsschema’s,visualisatiesenpresentaties.InditdoorNROgesubsidieerdeprojectontdektendeonderzoekersdatzulkeauthentieketussenproductenvanleerlingenzichtbaarkunnenmakenwatzijaanvakkennisopdoentijdenshetwerkenaaneenontwerpopdracht.Crucialevoorwaardendaarbijzijndejuistetiming,eenstrakformateneendocentdieoverdejuisteontwerpkennisenvakdidactischekennisbeschikt. ... Read more

Bij het ontwikkelen van technologieën spelen ontwerppraktijken een grote rol. Met zulke praktijken kunnen leerlingen op school al kennismaken. Ontwerpgericht onderwijs biedt ook kansen voor leerlingen om hun bèta-vakkennis te verdiepen of verbreden. Bij zo’n onderwijsaanpak is het wel belangrijk om kennisontwikkeling formatief te evalueren op een manier die aansluit bij de ontwerpcontext. Hoe kun je dat doen? ... Read more

α-Hydroxy ketones and vicinal diols constitute well-known building blocks in organic synthesis. Here we describe one enzyme that enables the enantioselective synthesis of both building blocks starting from diketones. The enzyme 2,3-butanediol dehydrogenase (BudC) from S. marcescens CECT 977 belongs to the NADH-dependent metal-independent short-chain dehydrogenases/reductases family (SDR) and catalyses the selective asymmetric reductions of prochiral α-diketones to the corresponding α-hydroxy ketones and diols. BudC is highly active towards structurally diverse diketones in combination with nicotinamide cofactor regeneration systems. Aliphatic diketones, cyclic diketones and alkyl phenyl diketones are well accepted, whereas their derivatives possessing two bulky groups are not converted. In the reverse reaction vicinal diols are preferred over other substrates with hydroxy/keto groups in non-vicinal positions. ... Read more