ADVANCES IN THE TEACHING OF CHEMISTRY SINCE 1914* F. B. DArNs, THEUNIVERSITY OF KANSAS, LAWRENCE. KANSAS
In 1914 the world burst into flame. Just as Napoleon more than a century before had called upon the French scientists for aid, so in the beginning of the Great War the nations in their need mobilized every scientific activity. Chemical activity abroad and at home was stimulated to the highest degree. There was a demand for munitions, food, textiles, medicinals and chemicals, which involved as never before the application of science to industry, to metallurgy, to the production of raw materials, and to agriculture. With the blockade of Germany came the need which resulted finally in America in an independent production of dyes, medicinals, and fine chemicals. Studies in dietetics and nutrition were also stimulated, which have, as a by-product, our conflicting knowledge of the important but elusive vitamin. As a result of this need of the application of science to the world's work there was organized in the nation a great propaganda for the diffusion of scientific knowledge and for the education of the public in the necessity for scientific research for the sake of national safety and public welfare. There was also an increasing demand for educated men and women, the immediate result of which was to double and triple the college enrolments with a group which before had not dreamed of the possibility of such further training. The factors then that must be considered as affecting the teaching of chemistry in this new era from 1914 on, and whkh raised a host of new problems, can be briefly formulated as follows: (1) the great growth in student body, which has not only taxed the facilities of our higher institutions of learning, but has brought in a mass of student raw material, the value of which is very questionable; (2) an enormous increase in achievement in pure and applied chemistry; (3) the recognition of the need of accurate and continued research as a basis for industry, for the utilization Of waste products, and for future welfare, both local and national; (4) an increasing public appreciation of and knowledge regarding the value of scholarly and scientific training. This last has been aided by the fact that the level of popular knowledge and appreciation has risen, which has been brought about largely through the efforts of the educational institutions and by the work of such organizations as the National Research Council, the scientific divisions of the Government, the host of private research laboratories; by accurate, hut readable books, such as Slosson's "Creative Chemistry," "Chemistry and Industry," etc. (for this we owe a great debt to Mr. Garvan and The Chemical of
* Presented before the Divisions of Chemical Education and History of Chemistry the A. C. S. at Buffalo. N. Y., September 1,1931. 745
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Foundation, Inc.), by the News Service of the American Chemical Society, by the daily press, and by many other allied services. Another effect of the war was t o close the institutions of the Central Powers t o the American student. Since the '30's of the last century the foreign training of the American chemist had been largely in Germany and to a lesser degree in France. The inspiration of such masters as Liebig, Wohler, von Baeyer, Lothar and Victor Meyer, Emil Fischer, Ostwald, and many others had exercised an enormous influence upon the teaching of American chemistry. The war closed t o our students the German laboratories with their wealth of chemical tradition-a most unfortunate situation. While American scholarship and increasing graduate facilities have provided the finest sort of training and adequate facilities for graduate work, the war prevented for years the personal contact with German chemists which gave a perspective that we in this country need, and which could be provided only partially by the allied countries. Fortunately, the situation is changing, though we cannot but regret the lost years with the passions engendered. France, since the war especially, has made her laboratories much more accessible and has attracted in consequence an increasing number of American students. The exchange professorships a t Cornell and other institutions have brought to us some of the keenest European minds and have radically helped this unhappy insular condition; and, too, the flow of student exchange has become more normal -a result that cannot but be helpful in placing chemistry in its proper world relation. An important development of the p&t few years has been the expenditure of huge sums of money in the erection of carefully planned laboratories for the accommodation of from two hundred t o several thousand students. They are designed not only for the students in the general courses, but include what the older type of laboratory did not-every possible facility for research-and the investigators have a t their command every type of apparatus and mechanical device. This wealth of equipment deadens the initiative of some students, and they forget that fruitful work and investigation are possible under simple conditions. Association of Teachers and the Division of Chemical Education In 1 9 1 there were relatively few associations of teachers and those only in the older and more thickly settled parts of the country. The average isolated teacher had t o work out his own salvation as best he could with the aid of an occasional book agent. One of the most positive advances of this era was the organization of the Division of Chemical Education under the leadership of Edgar Fahs Smith, to whose kindly spirit we all owe so much. For the first time, under the auspices of the American Chemical Society, was an opportunity given for
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united efforts in approaching this phase of chemistry, and for teachers of chemistry t o study their own educational problems, rather than leave them to the mercies of professional educators whose well-meant efforts were unhampered by any special knowledge of the subject. The untiring efforts of the leaders in this Division have led t o the organization of state associations of chemistry teachers and, where possible, groups of teachers-a result which has very interesting and hopeful possibilities. A very definite accomplishment in this period was the founding of the JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION.It gives a means for teachers of chemistry to express to their colleagues their viewpoints concerning the pedagogical problems that confront them. I t contains articles of general interest rather than of a research nature, as well as contributions from the Division of the History of Chemistry, which latter afford a human background for our science. The JOURNAL has had a remarkable success under the leadership of its able editor, and is recognized here and abroad as a worthwhile periodical in a distinctive field. Mr. Garvan and The Chemical Foundation, Inc., through its system of awards and fellowships, have encouraged and aroused much interest among the younger students. Mr. Garvan's recent endowment of a Chair in Chemical Education a t The Johns Hopkins University has made possible a most interesting experiment fraught with great possibilities. Textbooks The basis of every elementary course is an adequate text for reference and study. In introducing this topic may I venture to recall some of the landmarks in this field? One hundred years ago Benjamin Silliman published his "Elements of Chemistry" in two formidable volumes, which would impress the reader today with the large amount of accurate descriptive information they contain and with their lack of the formulas, general principles, and laws that characterize a modern text. The present era was ushered in by two very influential texts-the first by Ira Remsen, which was a model of clarity and style; the second by Alexander Smith-in which were incorporated much of the new world of physical chemistry discovered by Arrhenius, van't Hoff, and Ostwald. Smith a t the
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time of this publication was one of the younger members of the staff a t the University of Chicago, and I can well remember that even in 1895 a mid-west group of teachers of chemistry were considering how much of this new knowledge should be incorporated into an elementary text. Now a whole new "five-foot shelf of books" has been added, which contains the startling advances in physical chemistry, radioactivity, and the structure of the atom. In far-off Greece there rises a memorial to the brilliant Moseley, to whom we owe some of these epoch-making ideas, and whose untimely death was one of the great tragedies of the War. Now there is no lack of hooks, ranging from merely descriptive volumes to others that are as attractive as a nicely articulated skeleton and devoid of all interest. Some authors in their desire to he up-to-date bring in by force the r \ ~ ~ . x n s ns m~11.11 From a snapshot taken in May, 1911, in latest suggestions of the previous Lawrence, Kansas. week, whether confirmed or not. However, many most excellent books have appeared since 1914 where the dictum of St. Paul has been followed: "Prove all things; hold fast to that which is good." On the other hand, how much of this newer knowledge should he included in a beginning text seems still a matter for argument, and the future alone will bring a definite answer. Chemical Instruction in Secondary Schools I t is possible that greater advances have been made in the secondary schools than elsewhere, due to improved training of the teachers and their greater participation in science organizations where they are benefited by the mutual assistance and the free discussion thus made possible. In these schools without question the standardization of topics has been of assistance to the younger teachers; there are some common things that every student of chemistry should know. The topics that the Committee
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of the Division of Chemical Education has advised do not hamper the initiative of the real instructor nor interfere with necessary modifications for local conditions. It may dissuade him from too great stress on the mechanics of the problem rather than adherence to the spirit of chemistry. EDUCATION For this latter aim the articles in the JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL are especially helpful. Of certain institutions the criticism has been raised that method has been emphasized rather than any real knowledge of the subject-a most unfortunate viewpoint. Teachers of Chemistry in Colleges In the good old days it was said that in one small New England college when a professor resigned the others drew lots to see who should fill his place. "Those days have long been gone forever." Now the instructor in chemistry is highly educated, and owing to his increased contact with industry and life outside of the classroom he has become far more a man of the world with many-sided interests. Majors in Chemistry In general, the requirements for the major in chemistry have shown an advance over those of the preceding generation. He tends to have a better background of language and physics; his study of mathematics has carried him through calculus or farther; to his fundamental training in general and organic chemistry and in quantitative anal9sis has been added a far more rigid course in physical chemistry than ever before. For certain phases of chemistry still greater mathematical training is required, but even then it will assist rather than take the place of accurate experimental work. With the crowding of the curriculum has come one unfortunate result; namely, that too little emphasis has been placed upon exact quantitative analysis, which after all is the necessary basis of our chemical science. Objectives of Chemistry When one turns the pages of Gmelin-Kraut, Beilstein or Chemical Abstracts one is appalled not only by the endless amount of data and, to a lesser extent, theory that they contain, hut also by the fact that the volume is constantly increasing. Under these conditions it is a matter of credit that chemists have achieved the agreement that exists in the choice of material that can be presented peaceably to the first-year student in chemistry. A definite effort is now being made by teachers of chemistry to recognize more clearly than ever before the various objectives of the present-day student. The history of the past decade would lead to the following conclusions: 1. The bulk of the instruction has been designed for the prospective
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major in chemistry where the sequences have been developed by years of trial and experience and is on the whole fairly satisfactory. On the other hand there is a growing feeling that a student who is majoring in, let us say the humanities, should be given a general viewpoint of chemistry and its importance to the world in which he lives. We all agree that somewhere in high school or college every one should have this exposure. But electing the first four or five hours of a chemical sequence does not satisfy this need any more than do some of the texts that have been written with this general aim in view. 3. How best to handle a third class the members of which are looking forward to medicine or biological fields has become an increasing problem. Certainly no short cuts should be allowed, though little advance can be made until medicine and biology are willing to increase radically their minimum requirements of chemistry above the first elementary course. Despite these unsettled problems there is much of hope in the future. At no time in the past has so much real progress been made and a t no time has there been such a willingness to consider and attempt new methods. This is seen in the changing technic of college teaching. The lecture system is being modified so that the students are handled in small divisions where they become individual units. In some institutions classification on the basis of ability is attempted, though here one must sympathize with the leaders of the forlorn hopes a t the bottom of the list. Where it is feasible, students who have had a good high-school course in chemistry are placed in separate division? and the college instructor utilizes so far as possible their previous training. In many institutions this "cultural course" in chemistry is an accomplished fact (at least in the catalog). For the properly prepared undergraduate, in order to develop his initiative and chemical curiosity, some universities have offered an introduction to research where the student can assist an older investigator in some piece of work. Everywhere, then, there is a keen desire to meet in a scholarly way the changing conditions of the present era. May I close with the suggestion, which is valid from the high school to the most technical course of the graduate, that we never in our teaching lose sight of the basic fact that chemistry is an experimental science and that the only general test of truth is the careful interpretation of rigid and accurate experimental data?
