edited by PATRICIA J. SMITH United States Air Academy High School United States Air Academy. CO 80840
chemi~tryfor kid/
A Chemistry Seminar for Elementary Teachers G. Lynn Carlson University of Wisconsin-Parkside, Kenosha, WI 53141 Currently there is widespread concern about the quality and auantitv of nhvsical science beine taueht to elementarv sch&l childien in the United ~ t a t e s y l ) ~ . f f o r t to s address this problem include a number of special lectures and summer experiences in chemistry, for example, available for small erouns . of children (2-7). but these nromams are in the nature of enrichment experiences and-do-not address a broad sector of the school population. I t seems more appropriate to focus on ways to include physical sciences in the regular school curriculum. One annarent reason that ohvsics. chemistrv. and related topics a;; not well taught in'elementary sch&ls is that the teachers themselves are often not comfortable with the concepts to be taught. Many elementary teachers have no colleee exnosure to the nhvsical sciences? and some have not even taken physics or chemistry in high school. They are thusunahle toreach bevond the basic texthookmaterial and develop lesson plans of their own to illustrate key scientific ideas. In order to attack the defirienries in science education at a level where widespread change might be accomplished, a series of day-longseminars called
