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The educational concept of chemistry is similar to a wide range of related areas (not only natural sciences) and affects many strata of society from the general public, teachers of the subject, to future professionals in the scientific field. Moreover, the topic is also very actual at the time of curricular change in many countries as it brings evidence for innovative initiatives. Student and teacher perception and understanding of the education process in relation to conceptual changes are, according to Teo, Goh, and Yeo’s (2014) literature review, one of the most studied areas in Chemistry Education Research – CER. This paper follows the previously conducted research in the field by Rusek (2011, 2013) focusing on students in their first year in Czech secondary schools (ISCED 3). The researchers found out that the tested sample of students in the cited research (only students in secondary professional vocational training schools) created a limited selection of data (80% of the overall secondary school population in the Czech Republic). The studies published in 2011 and 2013 concluded two comparable results. That is why the sample was changed and this research focused mainly on 9-grade lower-secondary or an according level of grammar school students in order to bring more information from a similar age group (one year younger). These results offer a valuable source of information in the curricular reform process. Very often the key-word reduction is being used when talking about revising the curriculum (Sundberg, Dini, & Li, 1994). There are teachers who feel limited by the number of topics they need to go through in their classes. They usually state that they are not using activating strategies because they find them too time-consuming. There are also teachers who, at the lower-secondary but also at upper-secondary level, feel the need to prepare their students for the following school stage, therefore present them with as much subject matter as possible. As the goal of science education is rather seen by many in developing students’ scientific literacy, the latter teachers’ opinion needs to be reversed by cogent arguments. Only research Martin Rusek Charles University, Czech Republic Vlastimil Chytrý Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic Linda Honskusová Charles University, Czech Republic Abstract. This research follows the previous study examining the effect of chemistry education on students’ perception and understanding to the nature of chemistry (NoC) as well as their attitudes towards it as a school subject. Grade 9 students (N = 282) at the end of their compulsory schooling were given a set of open-ended questions focused on their understanding to NoC, perception of chemistry topics’ importance, topics the students found interesting and their evaluation of chemistry as a school subject. The answers were analysed using the open coding approach. It is possible to conclude most of the students do not have a clear idea about the nature of chemistry. Students assess chemistry as a school subject in the middle of the 5 point Likert scale. The results of this research offer the background for a more complex analysis of effects influencing students’s conception of chemistry and its subject matter.

THE EFFECT OF LOWER-SECONDARY CHEMISTRY EDUCATION: STUDENTS’ UNDERSTANDING TO THE NATURE OF CHEMISTRY AND THEIR ATTITUDES