ENHANCING CHEMISTRY INSTRUCTION THROUGH INTERACTIVE TEACHING METHODS

This paper examines how interactive teaching methods can improve the quality of chemistry instruction in general secondary schools and universities. Chemistry is widely regarded as a difficult subject because students must connect observable phenomena with invisible particle-level processes and with symbolic notation. Traditional lecture-based teaching often leaves these connections to the learner and produces formal, memorised knowledge. Drawing on research on active learning, social constructivism and Johnstone's chemistry triangle, the paper analyses a set of interactive methods suited to chemistry: Think–Pair–Share, the Jigsaw technique, Peer Instruction with concept questions, Predict–Observe–Explain demonstrations, case studies, cluster and concept mapping, Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL), role play and educational games, and digital simulations. For each method a concrete classroom example from the school chemistry curriculum is given. A model lesson structure that combines several methods and a set of practical recommendations for teachers are proposed. The paper concludes that interactive methods are most effective when they are chosen according to the learning objective, linked across the macroscopic, sub-microscopic and symbolic levels, and supported by formative assessment.