Award for Ilka Parchmann: Building bridges between research and the classroom
The German Chemical Society (Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker, GDCh) has awarded the Heinz Schmidkunz Prize to Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Ilka Parchmann, head of the Department of Chemistry Education at the Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (IPN), in recognition of her commitment to and achievements in chemistry education. Prof. Parchmann received her award on September 17 in Erlangen, at the 41st Advanced Training and Lecture Conference of the GDCh’s Chemical Education Division.
About the Heinz Schmidkunz Prize
The Heinz Schmidkunz Prize, which comes with a monetary award of 7,500 Euro, “is awarded to personalities who have made particular contributions to research in chemistry education, the training of chemistry teachers and Chemical Education in schools” (GDCh website). Heinz Schmidkunz, for whom the award is named, conducted groundbreaking research on bringing real-world applications into the chemistry classroom, using principles from the psychology of perception to carry out experiments in schools, and developing research-centered methods of chemistry teaching.
Prof. Parchmann’s research and impact
Ilka Parchmann has substantively influenced research in the fields of chemistry education, training chemistry teachers, and the teaching of chemistry in schools, in and beyond Schleswig-Holstein – her impact extends throughout Germany and into the international research landscape.
“What gave me particular joy was that the laudatory speech mentioned the diversity of my activities. I’ve always placed great value on bringing people together and supporting their paths of development and helping them meet their potential in their own ways. I really love engaging in this team effort, and I feel this award is a special recognition of exactly this shared endeavor.”
Ilka Parchmann
One of Prof. Parchmann’s major achievements is her involvement in Chemie im Kontext, an approach to the teaching of chemistry that brings together issues that learners encounter in day-to-day life with the systematic development of crucial competencies, and that has shown an innovative way forward for teaching chemistry. Ilka Parchmann is also highly engaged in promoting collaboration between higher education and the chemistry classroom. Her work at the IPN involves providing academic support for the development of modern curricula and establishing innovative in-service training formats for teachers, one example being the Nano Summer School, which offers teachers insights into current research topics, creatively linking science, educational approaches, and the delivery of content in class. Prof. Parchmann’s research on processes of learning, the sets of abilities, situations, and circumstances which learners bring to chemistry, and potential barriers to effective learning constitutes a vital foundation for effective teaching in the chemistry classroom, with the overarching aim of helping learners understand and appreciate chemistry and experience it as an exciting and fascinating science.
Prof. Parchmann’s diverse activities have left a lasting positive impact on the chemistry education landscape. We, her colleagues at the IPN, are extremely grateful to have her as part of our team and, alongside many other stakeholders in the fields of teaching and teacher education, to keep gaining inspiration from her creativity and her passion for chemistry education.
About Prof. Parchmann and her career to date
Ilka Parchmann took her First State Examination to qualify as a secondary-school chemistry and biology teacher at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in 1993. After completing her doctorate in the field of chemistry education in 1997, she proceeded to her Second State Examination for her teaching qualification, which she took in 1999 at the teacher training institute in Wilhelmshaven. She first joined the IPN in 1999, working here as a researcher until 2002, the same year in which she completed her Habilitation at Kiel University (CAU) and took up a professorship in chemistry education based there and at the IPN. There followed a professorship at the University of Oldenburg, which she held from 2004 to 2009. CAU Kiel and the IPN were delighted to welcome Prof. Parchmann back in 2009, as a professor and head of the IPN’s Department of Chemistry Education. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including an honorary doctorate from Umeå University, Sweden, conferred in 2018. Alongside her other work, she has headed the Kiel Science Outreach Lab since 2012.
Read more (in German) about the GDCh event at www.gdch.de/fgcu2025
About the GDCh
The German Chemical Society (Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker, GDCh) counts over 28,000 members, making it one of the world’s largest societies devoted to the scientific study of chemistry. Its remit is to advance scientific work, research, and teaching around chemistry and to promote communication among chemistry specialists and the dissemination of scientific knowledge in the field. The GDCh supports chemistry education in schools and higher education institutions and in continuous professional development in the workplace.
