Ethanol in class and at home: guided inquiry-based learning

Guided inquiry-based learning centered on ethanol - used in the last eleven years in the first year of graduation in chemistry in a course created to stimulate critical thinking and integration in the university world - is presented and described. This ranges from the calculation of concentrations and the estimation of the rates of elimination and energies involved, to more controversial, as women and men characteristics, alcohol and diet paradoxes, societal issues, as binge drinking, and technological issues, as the working of the breathalizer. All these issues are discussed using scientific results and show in practice how science develops and can be used for students' daily life.