The chemistry group in the Department of Science Teaching at the Weizmann Institute has been responsible for the development of learning materials for high schools for many years. In recent years research on students' learning as well as teachers' classroom behavior has shown that there is a vital need to tailor the content and pedagogy to the needs of the future citizens, namely to develop the students' chemical literacy (Ben Zvi & Hofstein, 1996; Shwartz, Ben Zvi, & Hofstein, 2005; Hofstein, Bybee Eilks, 2012)) Thus, a program entitled "Chemistry in the Tunnel of Time" aimed at tenth-grade students was developed by my group (coordinated by Dr. Rachel Mamlok-Naaman). The program uses a historical approach and makes a genuine attempt to present chemistry as a relevant topic to the students and to the society in which they live.
Another attempt to make chemistry more relevant, an internet site "General Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry for the Use of Mankind" (Kesner, Freilich, & Hofstein, 2003) was developed. The main goal of the site is to provide enrichment and learning materials in the context of the relevance of chemistry to everyday life and to industrial applications (Hofstein, Kesner, & Ben-Zvi, 2000; Hofstein & Kesner, 2006)
