About

SECO Research Group is located at the Unit of Chemistry Teacher Education at Department of Chemistry.

We have been in operation since 2001 and our current research director is professor Maija Aksela.

Our main focus is chemistry education research which has been one of the four main research areas at the Department of Chemistry since 2004. We do research on chemistry learning and teaching in all educational levels from primary school to higher education with the following as main research areas:

  • concepts, models and visualization in chemistry education
  • education for sustainable development (ESD)
  • history and philosophy of science in chemistry education
  • inquiry-based learning in chemistry education
  • information and communications technology (ICT) in chemistry education
  • science, technology, society and environment (STSE) in chemistry education.

The heart of our research is ChemistryLab Gadolin – a Finnish LUMA Lab flagship.

Research evaluation

Our research is evaluated as a part of Research Community for Mathematics and Science Education Research (RCMSER) -community. It consists of all mathematics and science education research groups in the Faculties of Science and Educational Sciences.