Reframing Secondary Chemistry Laboratory Instruction: A Critical Review of Pedagogical Aims, Affordances, and Trade-Offs in JCE and CERP Studies, 2016–2025

Abstract Laboratory instruction remains a central feature of secondary chemistry education because it links abstract chemical ideas to observable phenomena, supports practical skill development, and provides opportunities for scientific inquiry. In recent years, research on school chemistry laboratories has expanded across inquiry-oriented practical work, technology-supported and virtual laboratories, and green or microscale approaches. However, this literature is often organized by innovation type rather than by a shared pedagogical logic, making it difficult to compare what different laboratory designs are intended to accomplish, what they enable, and what constraints accompany their use. This paper presents a journal-bounded critical review of secondary chemistry laboratory instruction studies published in Journal of Chemical Education and Chemistry Education Research and Practice between 2016 and 2025. The review was guided by the analytical lenses of pedagogical aims, affordances, and trade-offs and informed by a transparent process of studies identification, selection, and coding. A total of 79 studies were included in the review. Rather than cataloging laboratory innovations by type alone, the review examines how different laboratory designs align with different educational purposes and how their pedagogical promise is shaped by classroom realities. Across the 79 studies, conceptual understanding remained a dominant aim, but many studies also emphasized inquiry, evidence use, scientific reasoning, student engagement, and, in some cases, equity and sustainability. Inquiry-oriented designs, digital and sensor-based approaches, and green or microscale formats each offered distinctive pedagogical affordances. At the same time, these benefits were frequently accompanied by trade-offs involving time, curriculum pressure, teacher facilitation demands, resource availability, technology access, and uneven implementation conditions. This review shifts attention from laboratory formats alone to the pedagogical decisions that shape laboratory teaching within a bounded but influential subset of chemistry education research. It argues that the value of a laboratory design lies less in novelty than in its alignment with intended learning goals under real instructional conditions. The findings have implications for classroom practice, curriculum design, teacher education, and future research on secondary chemistry laboratory instruction.