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The active participation of citizens in scientific research, through citizen science, has been proven successful. However, knowledge on the potential of citizen science within formal chemistry learning, at the conceptual...

Contextualized and socially relevant hands-on activities are an effective way to promote students’ involvement in the construction of knowledge. Considering the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the preservation of water resources is crucial for the sustainable development of a country. Therefore, the PVC project was implemented in the context of water quality monitoring. There were 440 students and 9 chemistry teachers involved. A low-cost portable pedagogical kit was developed in order to determine the temperature, turbidity, pH, concentration of nitrates and nitrites, percentage of dissolved oxygen, salinity, and presence of microplastics in coastal water samples. The results indicate that the hands-on activities have contributed to the learning of chemical contents related to water quality parameters. Finally, the commitment, motivation, and autonomy of the participating students should be highlighted.

Exploring chemistry through its presence in the literature in general, and poetry in particular, may increase students' curiosity, may enhance several basic skills, such as writing, reading comprehension and argumentative skills, as well as may improve the understanding of the chemistry topics covered. Nevertheless, the pedagogical potential of the link between poetry and chemistry has not yet been fully explored in school. This article describes a study during which a teaching strategy was used with pre-university students of introductory chemistry in order to explore the topics atomic radius and ionization energy by resorting to a poem about alkali metals. The study resulted in new poems and cartoons of chemical elements created by the students, which, together with the results of a questionnaire survey, were positive indicators of the impact of poetry in the motivation and learning of the chemistry topics explored. While the students showed some difficulties interpreting the poem, they considered that teaching chemistry with poetry is a motivating strategy that should be used more often, and that it enhances the students' engagement in the construction of significant learning.