A RESEARCH PROGRAM FOR MORE EFFECTIVE TEACHING OF COLLEGE CHEMISTRY' SISTERS M. CONSILIA HANNAN and MARIA CLARE MARKHAM Saint Joseph College, West Hartford, Connecticut
ANIMPORTANT
Our college facukies have good research people, many t,imes t,ied up with details of administration or personnel. What a shameful waste of resources! The American Chemical Society has been studying the so-called "man-power" shortage in the chemical world and recommends a better ~tilizat~ion of existing technical chemical personnel. I s it an impossible dream to visualize each chemistry teacher as a part-time research worker? We thiuk a ~ombinat~ion of t,eaching and research the hest program. If one is weary of papers and teaching a session in the laboratory or library may revive the spirit. And, vice versa, when research is stalemated concentration on teaching for a while may produce the answer. But t,he research program to he of most value must include t,he stndents. The independent planning of a scientific investigation does several valuable things for the prospective chemist as well as for the att,itnde and interest of underclassmen in the depart,ment. I n addition, the working out of an original problem gives hot,h the faculty and the student an opportunity to determine the st,udent's aptitude for research work. It is a guide to the t,ype of work to which t,he student should be directed after graduation or to the prohahility of his success in graduate school. I t affordsthe faculty an opport,unity to evaluat,e t,he st,udent and to determine what. recommendation should he given to him. We have followed withinterest the articles cont,aining pros and cons for undergradnate research which have appeared in THIS JOURNAL and elsewhere. We take onr stand with those who favor a research program as an integral part. of the t,raining of chemistry majors. In the course of any experiment,alproblem many new t,echniques will he learned; but these are for the most part incidental learning. In our opinion the chief benefits t,he st,udent derives from doing - a research ~. r o.i e c tare: (I) guidance in defining and limiting the scope of a I The authors are indebted to Remarch Corporation for agrant problem, alld ill bringing all knowledge t,o hear vhieh helped to initiate the pmeam. I l-lrrTcsras, R, M., V o i r e , ~UnivprRi?y of in predicting resn1t.s and in planning the cont,rol of variahle factors; (2) seeing a,nalyt,ica.lprocednres in Chir:~goPress, Chicago, 1936, p. 92.
function of the college is to teach. Robert Hutchins, ex-Chancellor of Chicago University says the "function of a college is to teach-not t o conduct scientific investigation or professional training. . . . It requires an excellent staff cent.ering its attention on teaching and on improving its teaching. The responsibility of adding to the world's knowledge does not rest upon the c~llege."~Certainly the whole responsibility does not rest upon the college, hut most of us will agree that discovery is a vital aspect of learning. I t provides opportunity for discipline of the mind in the art of clear thinking and valid reasoning. It should and can be encouraged without det,riment to teaching. Research vitalizes teaching, makes enthusiasm contagious, and brings the student from the static and dead to the dynamic and alive, and the joy of scholarship is born. Often a latent intellectual power in the student has been stirred. I n a little hole in the wall or a new modern laboratory, as the case may be, is provided satisfaction for the intellect through the discovery of trut,h and organization in the physical universe. Here philosophical and religious values can be deepened and inspiration passed on to the student. Here as Hugh Stott Taylor has put it, is "teaching and seeking." hrthermore the college is concerned with intellectual achievement, that is, with knowledge. There are three aspects of knowledge: its preservat.ion, its diffusion or teaching, and the discovery of knowledge or research. We preserve our knowledge in the library; t,earhing is supposedly o w main artivit,~; discovery is oft,en restricted t o universities. This should not be. Research is vital-without i t there would be no knowledge to preserve or to teach. As never before we need new knowledge and with it an awareness of responsibility to God for our fellowmen. But where shall we get the workers for this task?
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JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
dation, i. e., phenol, the three dihydroxy compounds, catechol, hydroquinone, resorcinol, and the tri-hydroxy compound, pyrogallol. All the compounds produced about the same maximum amount of hydrogen peroxide, hut a t very different rates. The student explained her results quite satisfactorily in terms of polymerization of the intermediate radicals and the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide. We are very much interested in this work because it did not turn out as we expccted. OUR PROGRAM We thought phenol being in the lowest state of oxidaIf suggestions for research problems are wisely chosen tion would produce the most peroxide and likewise these results may not be trivial, hut real contributions pyrogallol would give the least, but all gave about the to scientific knowledge. I n order to make the work same amount. We are extending this investigation and meaningful in our program, we have selected research if the results are published this stud&t will be a coproblems from one or two general fields in which faculty author. The students have presented their results in members are currently a t work and vitally intere~ted.~the Natural Science Seminar at the college and a t the These fields may be enlarged upon from year to year. Connecticut Valley Scientific Conference a t Smith The student's problem is to be the complete develop- College. We favor the use of free time for the carrying out of ment of some phase of the work which gives opportunity for originality and ingenuity on however limited a scale. the research project, time that otherwise might be The phase chosen must necessarily be limited, that is, spent on other extracurricular activities. We suggest i t must be something on which it is possible to get re- a minimum of three hours of actual laboratory work per sults of some value in a short time, but which offers week for about three-fourths of the senior year before possibilities for further development if the student the pressure of comprehensive examinations and combecomes absorbed and wishes to spend extra time. mencement week activities becomes too great. We feel Our general field of interest a t the present is the study that this eliminates all strain about the work and leaves of oxidations involving molecular oxygen, both enzy- the student free t o develop it as little or as much as dematic and those on oxide surfaces. The seniors have sired, since the problem is to be of such a nature that a t been investigating the oxidation of organic compounds least some positive conclusions can he reached by int,elon the surface of zinc oxide in ultraviolet light. Two ligent work in the time suggested as a minimum. The of them have studied the kinetics of the oxidation of student's approach to the problem and her resourcep-cresol on zinc oxide. They compared the course of fulness and thoroughness in carrying it out are considthe reaction with the results that have been obtained ered as part of her comprehensive examination. I t is by others in the oxidation of the same compound on the difficultt o assess the caliber of a student as a real scienzyme tyrosinase. They measured the rate of for- entist from academic standards alone, or even from the mation of hydrogen peroxide with different concentra- performance of standard laboratory experiments. tions of p-creso! and found the optimum concentration These give only a limited measure of real interest in to be 0.001 M, which is about the same as the optimum ferriting out truth for truth's sake which must he the concentration on tyrosinase. They observed a pink hasic attitude of the genuine scientist. coloration during the oxidation and wanted to see if it was identical with a similar pink color which they ob- PREPARATION FOR RESEARCH served during the enzymatic oxidation and also during Besides this senior research program, in certain of the the auto-oxidation of orcinol. They obtained the ab- other undergraduate courses we attempt to orient the sorption spectra and concluded that the intermediate thinking and experience of the student toward the goal is similar to that formed in the auto-oxidation of or- of being able t o do some real research in the senior year. cinol, but different from that obtained from the enzyme. For example, in the second half of the general chemistry A biology major interested in biochemistry has been course all freshmen, not only chemistry majors, are carrying on an independent study of oxidation by this invited to plan and carry out their own experiment8 durenzyme. Two other chemistry majors have studied the ing the last two laboratory periods. Since most of relative rates of oxidation of the benzene ring containing the laboratory work in Chemistry 11 is devoted to the various directive groups. By correlating their results identification of the various groups and ions, they with Wheland's theoretical work they think their re- are encouraged to make their projects analyses. Many sults can he interpreted as evidence of a free radical type choose for analysis small metal objects such as buttons, of oxidation. jewelry, type metal; others decide to try inorganic Another student has investigated the total amounts compounds in medicinal preparations, tooth paste or of hydrogen peroxide formed from the oxidation of powder, soft rocks or minerals; some obtain alloy phenolic compounds initially in different states of oxi- samples from hardware manufacturing companies; MARKITAM,M. C., AND K. J . LAIDLER,J . P h ~ s .Chem., 57, some reduce food materials to ash and analyze for inorganic materials. They look up suitable procedures 363 (1953). their proper perspective as tools for the examination of hypotheses or the testing of theories; (3) learning to use reproducibility of results and consistency of data with the results of others as criteria of reliability; everyone's results, if reproducible, are important and will either confirm or necessitate the revision of current theories, or a t least indicate new difficulties to be met and overcome.
SEPTEMBER, 1953
and adapt them t o their partim~la~needs.For instance, a freshman familiar with the usual group separation of cations was devising a procedure for analyzing type met,al. She made the discovery t,hat, when she dissolved the sample in nitric acid a white residue mas left, which she recognized as tin, since the text had pointed out t,hat it was one of the very few metals that would not dissolve in nitric acid. She decided t,o modify the usual gronp procedure and separate the t,in a t this point. This enabled her to get an unambiguous test for antimony in Group I I B mithout going t,hrough the whole proredure. If she had had the complete analysis of type metal in quantitative analysis, the text would have given these directions and she could have followed them. The experience would not have been half so valuahle as t,he confidence she gained in her own ability to interpret unforeseen results and modify her plans accordingly. We would certainly not adv0cat.e performing all analytiral chemistry in this fashion, but a little experience of thissort will give the student a new understanding of the whole procedure and a greater appreciation of the directions other people have worked out. Some of these freshmen made slides of their results and presented their projects at a science meeting for highschool standentsconducted by the chemist,^ and biology clubs. In t,he second half of the organic chemistry course every student is required to look np the synthesis of a n organic compound in the literature, t,o compare methods for yields, and t,o select or modify a procedure according to the apparatus and raw materials available. They t,hen carry out the synthesis during the lahoratory period. In organir chemistry also they are required t,o do a term paper each term, one which involves the following up of the research of an eminent organic chemist, and the other a complete literature search on a particular organic compound or group of rompounds. In hoth qualitatiw and quant,it,atire analysis students do a complete literature seart.h on methods of analyzing for some element or complex ion. Therefore, t.hey are expected to he thoroughly acquainted with the literature hefore they come to their senior rescartth program, for then all the literature which has a beating on their experimental prohlems must he covered and understood. We do not, of conrse, insist t8hat all senior research prqjects must be experiment,al, but in our opinion an original piece of work on interpretat,ion or criticism of reports in the literature or theoretical problems are more difficult than a laboratory investigation. There are a considerable number of problems, such as calculating bond energies in molecules from kinetic and thermochemical data found in the lit,erature, which we would favor as a type of lihrary research.
CONCLUSION
Students who are engaged in the research program think they are getting much from it. One writes, "During the time spent working on the chemistry research project, I have begun to realize what is meant by a scient,ific investigation. Before any actual work is begun a systematic procedure must be outlined, solutions to be used must be carefully prepared. result,^ are t,o be examined in the light of influential factors previously discovered or theoretically anticipated." Another wrote: "The main value of a course in research chemistry, in my opinion, is that it acquaints one with the general plan of attacking a scientific problem. Any problem in research is hound to become t,remendously involved: this is to he expected. The undergraduate course t,eaches the student how to limit. the scope of his problem, and without getting lost in the various side-tracks, still to be axvare that they exist and must he investigated, a t least enough to see how murh t,hey affect the course of the reaction." Many of the students learned how to apply special types of apparatus such as the Warburg apparatus, the p H meter, and the spectrophotometer, to their problems; they also learned many time-saving laboratory techniques. These things they correctly evaluated as incidental learning. For most of t,hemthe examination of data from the viewpoint of its correlation with ot,her work and not merely for i t s reproducibility rvas a new and valuable experience. All enjoyed working on an independent prohlem; . most of them felt that they would benefit by more frequent meetings and discussions during the course of t,he work and we intend t o incorporate more informal discussions next year. Most of them appreciated being able to arrange their own time and not being held to a definite number of hours a week, although some thought they would have done more if it had been an acrredited course. However, in our opinion, that would spoil t,he freedom of working chiefly for the sake of interest and would detrart from the att,itnde toward research which we should like to develop. In many rases st,udents begin in kindergart,eri working for "gold stars" and continue through college still stmggling t,o complete a task and att,ain, not the reward of true scholarship, but a few credit,^. Thomas Aquinas in the disputation, "De Magistro," emphasizes the vital role of discovery in learning. He says knowledge is acquired in two ways-by discovery and by teaching. The student can learn from instruct,ion, but the teacher should begin to teach in the same way t,he discoverer begins t,o find out. Thus, we think, the teacher must know the way of discovery which is the >say of researrh, and must encourage the st,udents in t,heir endeavors along the same line. This is the sine qua non of effective t,eaching.
