This study investigated the effect of the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) approach on grade 9 students' understanding of chemical change and mixture concepts. Four intact classes taught by two chemistry teachers from a Turkish public high school were selected for the study; one class was assigned as the treatment group, and the other class was assigned as the comparison group. Students in the treatment group were instructed by the SWH approach, while those in the comparison group were instructed with traditionally designed chemistry instruction. Tests measuring students' conceptual understanding in the units of chemical change and mixture were administered as pre- and posttest for both groups. At the end of the instruction, semistructured interviews were conducted with 13 students from the treatment group and eight students from the comparison group. ANCOVA results revealed that the SWH approach was superior to the traditional approach on students' understanding of chemical change and mixture concepts. Interview results indicated that students in the treatment group demonstrated better scientific understanding of chemical change and mixture concepts compared to those in the comparison group.