Over a period of more than 60 years, the chemistry laboratory has been extensively and comprehensively researched and hundreds of research papers, reviews, and doctoral dissertations have been published, investigating the laboratory as a unique learning environment. However, there were challenges and pedagogical questions regarding its educational effectiveness and benefits for teaching and learning chemistry. At the beginning of the 21 st century there was a call to rethink (and research) the goals for learning chemistry in the laboratory. This is especially applicable in an era in which we are trying to enhance the goal of teaching "chemistry for all students" and/or for the benefit of what is fondly called "future citizens". Working for more than 15 years with colleagues and students, we researched the potential of establishing an inquiry-type chemistry laboratory for developing high-order learning skills, namely, skills for the future or skills for life, including metacognitive and argumentative skills, and the ability of students to ask relevant questions resulting from an inquiry-type chemistry laboratory.
I this paper, we survey and focus on developments in the chemistry curriculum in Israel over the past 70 years, as influenced by changes and reforms in the curricula around the world and specifically in the United States, by political, cultural and socio-economic factors, scientific and technological innovations, and theories and studies in learning and teaching. The mentioned studies refer also to the influence of the learners, the teachers, the content, the pedagogy of teaching and learning both in and out of school, and the assessment of students' achievement on the curriculum changes. Three periods of changes are discussed in the chemistry curriculum in Israel, from the 1960s to the beginning of the 21 st century, as influenced by the above factors.
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