Ecology of the mind and educational research: Chemistry,the universal language of nature

Summary The authors advocate the need for a new approach to chemistry, using educational research to permit a fuller appreciation of the functions of the mind and a better understanding of natural processes. Such studies will, the authors believe, clarify the true relationships between energy, matter and information. Their integration, within a conceptually unitary whole, should allow a wider and more fruitful interpretation of reality. An attempt is made to understand the preferential orientation of bond-electrons that give order to a molecular formation, in terms of a tentative reinterpretation of chemistry as a universal language of nature.Dr Paolo Manzelli, senior author of this paper, is Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Florence and Executive Secretary to the International Committee for the Promotion of Advanced Educational Research (Capire). John Eaton, until very recently Head of Education and Media Studies at Farnborough College of Technology, Hants; is now Vice Principal at East Herts College, Broxbourne, Herts, UK.