A PLAN FOR INTRODUCING BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL INTO SCIENCE COURSES J. H. SAMMIS, PEOR~A CENTRAL HIOHSCHOOL, PEORIA, ILLINOIS
A n insight into the liwes of great scientists should be of benefit to students of science. The following article tells how the teaching of biografihical and historical material has been done by the chemistry deNrtment at Peoria Central High School, and something of the success of such work.
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History instructors and historians have long realized that pupils and readers are more readily attiacted to the subject of history when it is taught or presented as a more or less connected series of biographies of the historically great than when offered as a pageant of events and their causes. Popularizers of science have also realized the interest-catching value of biographical material and have made extensive use of the lives of such scientific giants as Pasteur, Priestley, and Lavoisier and some of the more recent names such as Steinmetz and Einstein. The writers of chemistry texts have sensed this need for a historical background and now practically all elementary chemistry texts have a certain amount of material and pictures concerning the scientific leaders in the various branches of the science taken up in the book. With all this evidence to show the need and demand for historical and biographical information are the science students in secondary schools and even freshman college and university courses getting any noticeable quantity of such instruction? We think not. The author can remember several courses in chemistry and physidwhere all material relating to the lives of the men responsible for the work being studied was omitted, in some instances even ignored; there wasn't time for that sort of thing "with all the technical treatises yet to be covered." Since courses in the history of science are practically unheard of in high schools and rare in colleges and none too well attended in many universities, another explanation for omitting biographical material is possible. In spite of the fact that we full well realized that there are a stupendous number of fundamentals to be covered in a one hundred eighty-day school year, we of the chemistry department a t Peoria Central High School started several years ago a yearly program of five-minute talks on the lives of great chemists and a few eminent physicists. These talks are given by the students, each one choosing one name from a list of about thirty-five. In a class of twenty-eight this allows the unfortunate individual to whom last choice is allotted an opportunity to make a selection from eight names. These names (scientists) are listed on a large chart and accompanying each name is the date on which the talk is to be presented. In addition there are six more blank spaces, following the names, representing six classes in chemistry, where the pupil may sign his name to show that he has chosen a 900
VOL.9, No. 5
INTRODUCING BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL
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particular scientist about whom he will speak on the given date. After all the pupils of all six classes have made their selections the chart is posted as a reminder both to the pupils and the instructors. Much to our surprise, a minimum time requirement of five minutes proved to be not nearly so necessary as a maximum limit of ten minutes. Some pupils asked for permission to talk a second time on one of the names left over on the chart. These talks were distributed so that an average of two a week occurred for about four months and to a limited degree followed both the chronological order and the textbook order of presentation, starting with Paracelsus and Galileo and ending with Baekeland and Langmuir. The relative success of talks, student interest, and the availability of material have necessitated yearly changes in the make-up of our list of scientists. Galileo, Priestley, Lavoisier, Berzelius, Wohler, Sir Humphry Davy, Victor Meyer, Ostwald, and Arrhenius are favorites, while Benjamin Silliman, Robert Hare, and Count Rumford meet with less approval. The author has compiled a loose-leaf notebook containing references to the lives of all the men we have s udied. These references include histories of chemistry, popularized biographies, journals, and magazines. Any new references found either by pupil or instructor are promptly added. This book, kept where all may reach it, is constantly consulted. While each pupil is presenting his talk the other members of the class are instructed to keep notes of sufficient completeness that they may be able to write a one-thousand-word theme a t the close of the "biography course" on "Outstanding Characteristics of Eminent Scientists of All Times." The pupils, too, are directed to evaluate each talR on a basis of presentation, interest, and completeness and to keep a record of those evaluations. At the end of the course each pupil is allowed to vote to determine who in their estimation gave the best talk in their class. Six prizes, one to a class, and usually in the form of books on science, are then presented. In keeping with the historical and biographical spirit we have purchased and framed, so far, eighteen portraits of men included on our list. Each year we add to that number and, incidentally, each year it becomesincreasingly more difficult to obtain good reproductions. A set of slides supplements this work. Some easily obtainable moving picture films depicting high lights in the lives of some of the great men of science would be capital for this sort of instruction but at present the writer knows of no such films unless one on the life of Edison be considered. We who are presenting this work feel that we have been justified and amply rewarded for our efforts. The enthusiasm for such work was far in excess of what we originally anticipated, the prizes were not so much coveted as the honor, and alumni of recent origin tell us voluntarily that they enjoyed the talks, think they benefited by having heard them, and express regret that something similar isn't done a t the institutions they are attending.
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JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
MAY,1932
For those pupils who do not plan to go on in scientific pursuits, probably the most valuable thing to be gained from a course in science is an understanding and appreciation of the scientific attitude and method. A study of the lives of scientists, sketchy though it be, surely must help fix in the minds of young students the desirability of following scientificmethods and an admiration for that quality in men which makes them overcome great obstacles, withstand personal hardships, ignore social prestige, and sometimes forsake wealth in the persistence of their search for the truth.
