Chemical Education Today
Association Reports: ACS Division of Chemical Education
CONFCHEM: Division of Chemical Education Online Conference by Morton Z. Hoffman
The Executive Committee of the Division of Chemical Education (CHED) held an online conference, October 14– 31, 2005, to examine the current status of the Division and explore the directions it might take in the future. As the 2005 CHED chair, I organized the conference (The Division of Chemical Education: Current Status and Future Directions) that featured four papers, which generated discussion from among the registrants to the Conferences on Chemistry (CONFCHEM) of the Committee on Computers in Chemical Education (1). The papers and the discussions are fully archived (2) and have appeared in the CHED Newsletter (3). An executive summary appears below.
groups, and for setting policy for the operation of these conferences. The paper asked those who contemplate hosting a BCCE about central theme, optimum size, location, comprehensiveness, workshops, exhibition, and social events. A continuing problem for the Biennial Conference Committee has been the difficulty in reaching agreements with potential host sites for future conferences. It is no secret that hosting a conference is a major challenge; not many educators can afford the time and not many institutions have the resources that are necessary for the presentation of a successful conference. As an indication of this problem, there have been only two conferences on the West Coast in the past 38 years.
The Chair’s View In the first paper, The View from the CHED Chair, Hoffman reflected on the perceived strengths and weaknesses of CHED and its future promise. The following issues were examined: the popular perception that the Division gets very little respect within ACS, the static nature of its membership numbers over the years, the unique and attractive resources that CHED has to offer, and the responsibilities of the membership to reach out to its non-member colleagues and enlighten them about the new directions in chemical education research and practice. The discussion covered the following topics: the relationship between CHED and the ACS Education Division, the endowment fund to support regional high school chemistry teachers awards, the evaluation of the quality of teaching, institutional administration attitudes toward the implementing of new pedagogical ideas, the general/organic chemistry curriculum, the goal of increasing the involvement of high school teachers in activities, and the roles of local sections and regional meetings in this regard.
The Future Sue Nurrenbern (Purdue University), chair of the LongRange Planning Committee, raised important questions about activities, committees, communications, publications, programming, finances, and membership in Peering into a Crystal Ball: An Evaluative Look to the Future. The discussion reflected many of the issues raised earlier and revolved around the role of electronic communications; the recruitment of new members from all parts of the educational spectrum and maintaining their interest, involvement, and participation in the activities; and the value of co-sponsoring symposia with other ACS divisions.
Membership Membership: Who Are We and Where Do We Go from Here?, the paper by Julie Smist (Springfield College), Adele Salerno (Mt. Notre Dame High School), and Jennifer Lewis (University of South Florida), chairs of the Membership and New Members Committees, provided a demographic profile of the Division. They asked: Where should members from come? How can we serve these members? How can we get members more active? Insufficient communication was identified as the biggest problem. The gist of the discussion was that we need to be more in touch with our members, especially to meet the needs of high school teachers. A suggestion was made to establish contact with high school teachers through local sections. Biennial Conferences The Biennial Conferences on Chemical Education (BCCE) were reviewed by George Kriz (Western Washington U), chair of the Biennial Conference Committee, the committee responsible for recruiting, identifying, and recommending future conference sites, for working with the planning and organizing 536
Journal of Chemical Education
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General Discussion The connections between high school chemistry teachers and CHED, the ACS Education Division, and the dues and membership structure of the national organization occupied much of the wide-ranging general discussion. A suggestion was made that a survey should be taken of chemistry educators through focus groups concerning the problems that are perceived to exist in becoming a member of CHED and participating in its activities. The involvement of high school teachers in the programs of their local sections was emphasized, as were the opportunities that exist for them to be members of CHED committees. Chemistry educators at all levels were reminded of the value of the online conferences, BCCE, regional meetings, Chemistry Teacher Connection, this Journal, 2YC3, the Exams Institute, and other CHED activities. Literature Cited 1. Donald Rosenthal (Clarkson University) served as the majordomo discussion list manager; Brian Tissue (Virginia Tech) was the Web site manager. 2. http://www.ched-ccce.org/confchem/2005/c/index.html (accessed Jan 2006) 3. CHED Newsletter, Winter 2005 and Spring 2006, respectively.
Morton Z. Hoffman, the 2006 Immediate Past Chair of the ACS Division of Chemical Education, is an emeritus member of the Chemistry Department, Boston University, 590 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215-2507;
[email protected].
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www.JCE.DivCHED.org
