To promote the integration of aesthetic education into chemistry education, this study designed activities to photograph precipitation reaction experiments with a smartphone, thereby combining experimental inquiry with artistic creation across disciplines. These activities were divided into (i) perceiving, (ii) appreciating, (iii) exploring, and (iv) creating the beauty of chemistry. The participants first used macrophotography to capture the details and small changes of a precipitation reaction to obtain an impression of beauty. Then, they managed to understand, appreciate, and evaluate the beauty of the precipitation reaction from an artistic vision (admiring chemistry like an artist). Next, the students explored the fascinating phenomenon from a chemical perspective and looked for its inherent laws. Finally, they consistently improved the experimental and photographic methods and created works of scientific photography. These activities are suitable for students from primary school to college, and even for the general public. The experiments can be completed in only 1 min, but several hours can be spent to improve the results. In the end, most students are able to take high-quality photographs of precipitation reactions.

The topic of chemistry safety was included at the margins of traditional chemistry education in China. In order to understand the concerns of the safety issues based on the new chemistry curriculum in the mainland China secondary school, this study analyzed old and new secondary chemistry curriculum standards via the Natural Language Processing & Information Platform (NLPIR). Results show that the frequency of chemistry-safety-related words increased in the new curriculum standards. Evidence that the safety content is enriched and enhanced can also be found in the new textbook. In addition, content analysis of lesson plans from Jiangsu teaching contests reveals that the chemistry teachers (CTs) pay more attention to the safety risk of experiments, but they generally ignore the consideration of risks from the perspective of the uncertainty of chemical reactions.