Chemical Education Today
From Past Issues
Contests: What Is Wrong Here?
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by Kathryn R. Williams
“What is wrong here?” Faulty diagrams bearing this question appeared in eight consecutive issues of JCE from October 1929 through May 1930. These artistic works of John J. Condon, William Nottingham High School, Syracuse, NY, were the objects of a monthly contest for high school and beginning college students. The accompanying instructions directed entrants to submit a “brief statement telling what is wrong with the picture” and a “correct diagram, showing the picture as you think it should be.” The undisclosed judge(s) evaluated entries’ “correctness from a chemical standpoint, neatness and correctness of drawing, English, [and] neatness and legibility of manuscript.” The best contribution, which was printed two months later, earned a $5 prize, with $1 going to each of the five runners-up. Imaginative educational activities were common in The Chemistry Student, a 10- to 20-page section of the Journal. Nurtured by Associate Editor (later Editor-in-Chief ) Otto Reinmuth, the relatively short-lived feature appeared only during the 1928–29 and 1929–30 academic months. In addition to articles on various topics, The Chemistry Student included other literary devices such as poetry and short plays, as well as the monthly What Is Wrong Here? and essay contests. The latter competition provided $10 and $5 prizes for the best student article (not to be confused with the more lucrative Prize Essay Contest funded by Mr. and Mrs. Francis P. Garvan from 1923 to 1931). Possible subjects were broadly defined as a “miniature chemical plant, chemical play or entertainment, chemical hobby or project, unusual and successful chemistry club activity” or other exceptionally well written essay. The diagram shown above, the fourth in the What Is Wrong Here? series, appeared in the January 1930 issue (JCE, 1930, 7, 167). It’s been a few decades, but I vaguely remember a setup something like it from my high school days. It was immediately preceded by a prize-winning play written by Anne Bateman of Missoula, Montana (JCE, 1930, 7, 164). The skit, Chemistry Saves the Day, is set in the dining room of a typical mid-American family, the Spriggins. Harry, a high school student, enthusiastically describes his chemistry class and how useful chemistry is to the Spriggins’ household. The en-
W The skit Chemistry Saves the Day, mentioned in this article, is available on JCE Online at http://JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu/Journal/issues/1999/Apr/abs460.html.
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J. Chem. Educ. 1930, 7, 167.
tire play is reproduced on the JCE Online, so I’ll refrain from divulging the plot. What intrigued me most were references to two substances, “chlorazene” and a “corrosive sublimate…to use in the hen house”, which must have been common at the time. The days of The Chemistry Student may have been short, but the competitive spirit lives on. Let’s establish endof-the-century versions of the earlier contests! What faults do you find with the HNO3 setup? How would you improve it (diagram not required)? Read Chemistry Saves the Day and try to figure out the identities of the two mysterious chemicals. Email your entries to
[email protected] by May 25, 1999. Please include your name, position (college faculty, high school faculty, college student, high school student, or other appropriate description) and your affiliation (college, high school, business, etc.). The best, or at least the most interesting, submissions, along with the winning HNO3 entry from 1930, will be posted on the Web site in June. Sorry, no cash prizes. If something from a JCE from decades past strikes your fancy, consider letting other readers know. Write it up for the From Past Issues page. Send your ideas or submissions to Kathryn R. Williams, Department of Chemistry, University of Florida, P. O. Box 117200, Gainesville, FL 32611-7200, email:
[email protected].
Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 76 No. 4 April 1999 • JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu
