The Effect of Socio-Scientific Issues-Based Inquiry Learning on Students’ Chemical Literacy Skills

Chemical literacy among university students, assessed using the PISA framework, remains low—particularly among pre-service chemistry teachers. This suggests that current higher education practices have limited impact on improving students’ chemical literacy. One promising approach is inquiry-based learning centered on socio-scientific issues (SSI). This study examines the effect of SSI-based inquiry learning on students’ chemical literacy, focusing on acid–base topics. A quasi-experimental pretest–posttest control group design was used, with data collected through a specially developed chemical literacy test (reliability coefficient R = 0.817). Data analysis involved t-tests and effect size calculations. Results indicate a significant difference between students taught using SSI-based inquiry learning and those taught through traditional methods. The effect size falls within the strong category, confirming the significant positive impact of this approach. These findings demonstrate that integrating SSI into inquiry-based learning effectively enhances chemical literacy in higher education.