Practical Dilemmas and Breakthrough Paths for Integrating Scientific Thinking into Chemistry Teaching

Cultivating scientific thinking is a key objective in competency-focused education reform. Chemistry, with its empirical nature, reliance on models, and macro-micro-symbolic representational system, offers a natural context for fostering such thinking. However, current chemistry instruction often integrates scientific thinking in a superficial or fragmented manner, disconnecting it from substantive knowledge acquisition. Through theoretical analysis and literature review, this paper examines the practical challenges in embedding scientific thinking into chemistry teaching—across objectives, content design, instructional processes, assessment, and teacher readiness—and analyzes contributing factors rooted in educational philosophy, evaluation systems, teacher development, and resource availability. Proposed pathways for improvement include redefining teaching goals, enriching instructional activities, shifting pedagogical approaches, innovating evaluation mechanisms, and strengthening teacher support, with the aim of informing deeper reform in chemistry education and advancing students’ scientific reasoning abilities.