This paper focuses on system concept use in teaching either chemical core concepts or interdisciplinary chemistry-related topics. The system concept is important in order to develop global competences, and chemistry teaching plays a key role in this context. A questionnaire has been administered to two different samples, Italian teachers and International Baccalaureate (IB) teachers, in order to investigate their opinions about the issues involved. The most significant differences and similarities emerging from the survey have been analyzed mostly by dendrograms and then commented on. With due caution, it is possible to suppose similar attitudes in the two groups of teachers except for some aspects. For example, the analysis of system concept knowledge within pure chemistry highlights some deficiencies: Italian teachers in particular show a low level of epistemological awareness about the systemic character of chemistry, whereas its knowledge would allow not only a chemistry teaching improvement but also a productive use of chemical explanations in other scientific and nonscientific fields, especially in the social sciences; as a consequence, it would facilitate interdisciplinary teaching. Therefore, science teachers need epistemological insight into chemical systemic aspects, that may be provided by high quality textbooks and training initiatives focusing on the systemic character of chemistry and its interdisciplinary connections. In an analysis of chemistry teachers only, Italian teachers support interdisciplinary teaching more strongly than IB teachers, despite the rigidity and the state of crisis of the Italian education system, often attributed to a lack of broad-minded teachers. This evidence indicates a promising resource for the Italian education system. Moreover, a similar kind of questionnaire can be utilized by other education researchers in order to isolate and analyze some teachers’ attitudes regardless the very different education systems in which every sample works.

Synchrotron radiation XPS measurements of W 4f and P 2p core level binding energies in the series W(CO)4(P−P) (P−P = dppm (1), dppe (2), dppp (3), dppb (4), dmpe (5), F-dppe (6); dppm = bis(diphenylphosphino)methane, dppe = 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane, dppp = 1,3-bis(diphenylphosphino)propane, dppb = 1,4-bis(diphenylphosphino)butane, dmpe = 1,2-bis(dimethylphosphino)ethane, F-dppe = 1,2-bis(bis(pentafluorophenyl)phosphino)ethane) are reported. The results are interpreted in terms of effects of the chelate ring size and of the nature of substituents of the P atoms. The trend of XPS data show an excellent agreement with the results of DFT calculations, obtained by the ΔSCF approach. Further analysis of the Kohn−Sham eigenvalues calculated at the ground-state level has assessed the role played by the initial state effects.

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Educating future scientists and citizens is more effective if students are guided to correctly apply what they learned in school to their daily lives. This experience-based work is focused on the study of a well-known commercial product: cat litter. This material offers different starting points for a critical examination. Questions related to physical properties at the origin of the litter's efficacy, to information on chemical composition provided in the packaging, and to environmental features and possible noxiousness of cat litter were asked to be investigated by secondary school 14−15 year old students, through laboratory experiments based on problem solving approach, analysis of tag claims of different cat litter brands and cooperative learning activities. This multidisciplinary approach gives the chance to learn effectively chemistry core concepts and to avoid the typical students' lack of attention.

In this paper, a distinction is first made between environmental, sustainable and green chemistry; the last two are then examined in relation to the more general problem of the environmental education. A brief historical digression on the STS (Science, Technology and Society) movement tries to dissect the reasons why chemistry is seen by the general public as a problem, not as a decisive resource for the realization of the ecological transition. Although sustainable and green chemistry can be decisive in overcoming the insularity of chemical disciplines in the high school, it fails to effectively embed itself in educational practices. Specific operational goals, supporting a real scientifical and technological literacy in sustainable and green chemistry, can help chemical educators. They are provided at the end of an examination of the founding axes of sustainable and green chemistry, according to the criteria of scientific and technological literacy.