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Figure 2.
The main elements of this design research project (Edelson, 2002) 
In order to answer 
RQ1
, the chemistry teachers who took part in the in-service training 
courses developed novel inquiry-based concepts for teaching LCA for their own needs. The 

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designed teaching concepts were tested in a real-world setting in schools by the teachers 
themselves and further developed in later in-service training courses by other chemistry 
teachers towards a design solution – the IBL-LCA concept (see 
Article I
).
The next focus of the research in 
RQ2 
and 
RQ3
was to analyse the outcomes of the design 
solution (the IBL-LCA concept) and its effects on students. The problem analysis is presented 
via two case studies (see 
Articles II 
and 
III
): the first one focused on environmental literacy 
and attitudes towards the IBL-LCA concept, and the second one focused on the students’ 
argumentation skills in product LCA. A detailed review of the possibilities to measure 
environmental literacy is presented in Juntunen (2013). 
The participants of these three empirical case studies were interested teachers and randomly 
selected students. When testing the concepts in junior high schools, a minor challenge was to 
find talkative students for the study discussions in 
RQ2 
and 
RQ3
. Some of the students stated 
that discussing chemistry-related issues is too difficult for them. This partly affected the 
selection of the participants.
The iterative understanding gained from the empirical design process influenced how 
RQ4 
was answered. Comparing the theoretical literature to the empirical knowledge resulted in the 
discovery of the key concepts of the design context and in the generation of theoretical 
domain knowledge about holistic and inquiry-based ESD in chemistry (see