Evaluating a semester-long sustainability project in introductory chemistry: coordinating chemistry and sustainability systems

Abstract This Good Practice Report describes and evaluates a semester-long supplemental learning experience integrated with a one-semester introductory chemistry course. The learning environment was designed to help students use chemistry meaningfully in sustainability contexts by creating public-facing communication artifacts and iteratively constructing Systems-Oriented Concept Map Extensions (SOCMEs). The design drew on studio-based learning, systems thinking in chemistry education, team science, and Critical Systems Heuristics. To evaluate the practice, I analyzed matched pre- and post-project reflective essays from 73 students using deductive systems-thinking feature coding, comparative memoing, and secondary comparative synthesis. The evaluation showed that the presence of systems-thinking features alone did not capture how students’ reasoning changed across the semester. Across cases, uptake appeared as heterogeneous reorganizations in how students coordinated chemistry with implementation, material fate, ecological consequence, infrastructure, policy, and equity. Chemical solutions became conditional systems; sustainability reasoning shifted across lifecycles and ecological consequences; agency and responsibility were redistributed across sociotechnical systems; and similar systems thinking feature profiles sometimes masked different organizations of reasoning. These findings offer practical guidance for designing and evaluating chemistry learning experiences that help students use chemistry to ask more consequential questions about sustainability.