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This paper reports on the initial outcomes from the end of the fourth year of a 5 year research and professional development project to improve chemistry teaching among three cohorts of chemistry teachers in Manitoba, Canada. The project responds to a new curriculum introduction advocating a tetrahedral orientation (Mahaffy, Journal of Chemical Education 83(1), [49][50][51][52][53][54][55] 2006) to the teaching of chemistry. The project in its entirety is based upon several theoretical models in fostering chemistry teacher development (in particular Bronfenbrenner's bio-ecological model). These models are described, as is the progress made by teachers based upon the use of a Chemistry Teacher Inventory and associated teacher responses. Overall, statistical analysis of perceptions of their own teaching and comments made by teachers suggests they are showing limited development towards a tetrahedral orientation, albeit in a manner consistent with the curriculum. Ongoing research-based activities in this project are also described.

Students tend to have a poor understanding of the concept of gas pressure. Usually, gas pressure is taught in terms of the various formulaic gas laws. The development of the concept of gas pressure according to the early Greeks did not include the concept of a vacuum. It was not for another 2000 years that Torricelli proposed that a vacuum can exist and that he was able to produce a vacuum above a column of mercury. However, the existence of a vacuum continued to be a contentious issue for at least another 100 years. During this time the behavior of gases was studied by Boyle, Amontons, Gay-Lussac, Daniel Bernouli, Charles, and Dalton. In the 19 th century gas behavior was revisited and studied from the molecular level through the work of Graham, Maxwell, Boltzmann, and van der Waal. The stories of conflicting theories and the development of the concept of gas pressure gives students an increased appreciation for the nature of science and helps them with conceptual understanding of the concept of gas pressure.

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