New Perspectives in Science Education

Buildings and construction accounted for 37% of world’s greenhouse gas emissions and for 34% of the global energy consumption in 2021 [1]. One reason is the production of the building materials. Therefore, more sustainable materials need to be used in the building sector but also in other industries, to protect the climate on the one hand and to slow down the increase of the total energy consumption on the other hand. An appropriate candidate is wood, as it is biodegradable, stores CO₂ and its production consumes less energy than the one of concrete, for instance [2]. Therefore, intensive research is being carried out to modify wood to such an extent that it can compete with essential materials of our times (e.g. steel and concrete, but also glass) in terms of properties and thus applicability. To inform high school students about this research and empower them to contribute to the process of sustainable development, experiments were developed and are presented here in which high school students can perform a chemical modification method and determine the change in properties.