Chemie im Kontext (ChiK) is a context-based project in Germany that is modeled on the ideas of the Salters courses. Since 2002, outcomes from ChiK have been investigated in several research projects (Parchmann et al. 2006 ) . For example, a comparison between the motivation to learn chemistry of ChiK students and students learning within a conventional curriculum showed that the motivation of students following a conventional curriculum decreased signifi cantly compared with the ChiK group (Parchmann et al. 2006 ) . Furthermore, after 2 years of the project more than 60% of the ChiK students at the end of Grade 10 and Grade 11 stated that they wanted to choose chemistry in the upper secondary level. Ilka Parchmann et al. also found that the application of knowledge, the perceived personal relevance of chemistry and the infl uence of the teacher were important for the positive development of students’ interests in chemistry.