How much do students of pedagogical careers with a chemical profile know about Sustainable Chemistry?

Abstract

Sustainable Chemistry, being part of Sustainable Development, is vital for the subsistence of a country, so training young people from adolescence with this way of doing chemistry is of vital importance. That is why in this educational research, students of pedagogical careers with a chemical profile from the University of Oriente were surveyed, with the aim of exploring their knowledge about Sustainable Chemistry, because these will be the teachers of the students of the secondary, upper secondary and professional technical education of our country. Teachers from the relevant programs were interviewed to investigate the state of knowledge about Sustainable Chemistry. It was possible to determine that there are misconceptions about Sustainable Chemistry and a significant lack of understanding of the 12 principles that define and govern it. Furthermore, the students' opinions on the actual contributions of classical chemistry disciplines to this method of doing science are unclear. There is even confusion about Environmental Chemistry. Therefore, the inclusion of Sustainable Chemistry elements is proposed, at least in the elective curriculum of teaching courses with a chemical profile.