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7. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS 
This dissertation answered the main research question: 
What are the main features of 
holistic and inquiry-based education for sustainable development in chemistry?
In this 
concluding Section of the thesis, the results are discussed according to the subquestions of the 
dissertation. These include the perspectives of teachers, students and scientific research. Three 
types of new knowledge generated: 
RQ1. 
(
Article I
)
:
What kind of teaching concepts related to product life-cycle analysis do 
chemistry teachers develop in their own practice? This case-study resulted in new chemistry 
teaching concepts for ESD that use life-cycle thinking and inquiry-based learning methods. 
From these models, a 
design solution
the IBL-LCA concept was collaboratively-developed.
 
Chemistry education that uses the created concepts and the IBL-LCA concept is evaluated in 
Section 7.1. 
RQ2. 
and
 RQ3. 
(
Articles II 
and 
III
)
: 
How does an inquiry-based, product life-cycle analysis 
project in chemistry education affect students’ attitudes towards chemistry and environmental 
literacy? How do students use scientific, ecological, socio-economical and ethical 
argumentation in the life-cycle analysis of products? These two case-studies generated 
knowledge about
the effects of the design solution
.
 
Students’ attitudes towards chemistry, 
their perspectives on environmental literacy and their argumentation skills after the project are 
discussed in Section 7.2. 
RQ4. 
(
Article IV
)
:
How to teach education for sustainable development in chemistry? The 
theoretical study formulated 
domain knowledge
 
about holistic and inquiry-based ESD in 
chemistry. These approaches are discussed in Section 7.3.
The design research project of this study is discussed in Section 7.4. In Section 7.5., which is 
the final chapter of this thesis, a summary of how ESD can be implemented into curricula, 
teacher education and the wider pedagogical culture is presented. This summary provides 
implications of the findings and provides suggestions for further research on how chemistry 
education should be developed based on the results and the new knowledge gained.