In this Communication paper we describe how a research-based approach was applied in Israel to support high-school chemistry teachers, who continued to teach using technology during the COVID-19 pandemic. Within the TPACK (technological pedagogical content knowledge) framework for teachers’ knowledge in technological environments, we developed a questionnaire for chemistry teachers, with the goal to reveal the difficulties they encountered, their needs, and their means for sharing their knowledge, materials, and teaching strategies for online teaching. On the basis of the analysis of the collected data, we provided a research-based response that focused on the teachers’ needs when using technology to teach chemistry. Teachers’ needs, in terms of their knowledge, skills, and means of support, which were identified in the research and the activities that were developed in order to address them, are presented. We emphasized the research-based process that was applied to address teachers’ needs during the pandemic.

In this paper, we describe the structure, development, and validation process of customized pedagogical kits (CPKs) for differentiated instruction (DI) in chemistry. The CPKs rely on the DI approach, comprising varied pedagogical activities (e.g., games, inquiry activities, puzzles, simulations, models) designed as treatments, to help chemistry teachers personalize their teaching according to students’ misconceptions. The kits are based on the response to intervention (RTI) model, where the teacher applies an ongoing evaluation to meet the individual student’s needs within an evolutionary flexible process of learning. Each kit includes a diagnostic task, its characterization, pedagogical treatments for diagnosed misconceptions, and an assessment task, to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatments implemented in the classroom. The kits are developed along relevant literature criteria for using DI strategies and are based on constant validation and ongoing assessment, as demonstrated in the Redox-reaction CPK development. The validation and impact of the CPK on students’ achievements are supported by 25 chemistry teachers that implemented the full kit in their classrooms. Furthermore, the CPKs developed in the present research have succeeded in resolving many of the difficulties and challenges mentioned in the literature as obstructing the implementation of DI.

Recent technological advances have allowed for the use of computerized and online systems to achieve personalized student-centered learning and teaching in the classroom. One such prominent example is the PeTeL system (Personalized Teaching and Learning), developed by the Science Teaching Department of the Weizmann Institute of Science. In the present article, we describe the initial stages of the system's first implementation in chemistry classes, and show how it facilitates the hybridization of learning by combining online materials and offline activities. The research focuses on different hybridization models applied by chemistry teachers in their teaching, which demonstrate the efficacy of the PeTeL system in hybrid learning. Four case studies of a teaching unit dealing with melting points are discussed, and the considerations of two chemistry teachers using the system who adjust their teaching sequence to the personalized needs of their students in four different classes are presented. The results underscore the importance of providing teachers with the capacity and tools to personalize their teaching paths in a way that better supports hybrid teaching matching their pedagogical considerations. A new approach to the construct of hybrid teaching is proposed, considering it as a set of axes instead of one continuum.

Diversity and differences between students are the reality that teachers deal with daily. To address this reality, developments in education aim to provide teachers with the knowledge and requisite skills needed for differentiated instruction (DI). DI is a pedagogical-didactic approach that enables teachers to systematically address students’ diverse learning needs. However, no validated instruments currently exist to measure or evaluate teachers’ and students’ beliefs toward DI in chemistry. Hence, there is a need to develop such questionnaires to examine students’ and teachers’ sense of self-efficacy (SE) and attitudes (AT). We describe the development and validation processes of such questionnaire that have been developed based on relevant literature on DI and on teachers’ experience with DI in a heterogeneous classroom. The items were validated by experts’ panel, a readability test, and a field test. A confirmatory factor analysis was undertaken to investigate the factor structure of the teachers and students’ questionnaires based on pilot test reliability, Cronbach’s alpha revisions, and rerun alpha. As a result, the SE and AT of students towards DI instrument entailed 38 items with a five-factor structure indicating a high reliability. Three factors of attitudes, (α) = 0.98, and two factors of self-efficacy, (α) = 0.91. The SE and AT of teachers entailed 55 items with a five-factor structure indicating a high reliability of self-efficacy, (α) = 0.95 and of attitudes towards DI in heterogeneous chemistry classrooms, (α) = 0.93.