Philosophy of chemistry
an emerging field with implications for chemistry education
pp. 165-177
in: Fabio Bevilacqua, Enrico Giannetto, Michael R. Matthews (eds), Science education and culture, Berlin, Springer, 2001Abstract
Traditional applications of history and philosophy of science in chemistry education have concentrated on the teaching and learning of history of chemistry. In this paper, the recent emergence of philosophy of chemistry as a distinct field is reported. The implications of this new domain for chemistry education are explored in the context of chemical models. Trends in the treatment of models in chemistry education highlights the need for reconceptualizing the teaching and learning of chemistry to embrace chemical epistemology, a potential contribution by philosophy of chemistry.