international chemical education, 6
Developments in Chemical Education in China Editor'a Note: The following two articles give an insieht into the curriculum reforms now beim undertaken in ha. One addresses a course designed toshow the links among science, technology, and society and the other oub lines ways of improving pedagogy through laboratory experiments.
STS Education and Social Organic Chemistry Wu Yona Nanping ieachers'college Nanping, Fujian, 353000, China STS Education is the acronym for ScienceTechnologySoeiety Education. In recent years this new form of education beine adouted more &d more widelv throuehout the world. iris based on the concept that the &ogressof all sciences and the development and application of new technology are, by nature, social processes. Education should fullv reflect this interrelationshiu. In other words. the development of modern science and technology and the wntinuous progress of society, on the one hand, have ushered in wmpletely new concepts, new modes of thinking, new teaching materials, new teaching methods, and new technical means in the field of education. On the other hand, technical advances and social umeress result in a meat demand on education not only tkpGduce scientists and technical personnel who will devote themselves to the progress of soiiety, but also to train people with decision-making talents who possess adequate scientific knowledge and are able to predict what effects technologicalprogree will have. Therefore, a new form of education has emerged, based on the interrelationship of science, technology, and society and known a s STS Education. Given the background that has given birth to STS Education, this new form of education puts a high premium on the following aspects. 1. It emphasizes that education should aim at the general public. The purpose of education is to enhancethe quality of all people so as to raise the whole human race to a higher level of culture, science, technology, and ssodal val-
ues. It is opposed to an elite education that benefits only a limited number of people in society 2. STS Education starts with practical problems that students are confronted with, and in gradual stages leads them on to further exploration. Students should be exposed, to the maximum extent, to practical situations from which they can obtain and master a great variety of scientific contents. Buildine.. uo. knowledee in this wav helps to arouse siudenis'curioslties, to keep up thew Intereste, and to kindle their enthusiasms, which are essential in bringing out their creatwity in tackling actual problems. 3. STS Education values technical learningthat aims to cultivate in students an independent ability to deal with nractical nroblems and also to develon their technical competcnec. This also is the demand of our age, particularly when we are standing at the threshold o f the 21at century in which science and technology will reach a much higher level of development. 4. Education should be practically oriented. Students should be well acquainted with the fact that education strives to enable them to use the knowledge obtained to understand
better the environment, bath social and natural: and to reshnpe the environment for the well-beingof t h c whole of mankind. Students should gradually form their own social values in the proeess of learning and salving new problems. change and
STS Education In Practice At present three aspects of STS Education need further develoument: curricula. course content. and teachine methois. The curriculuk should include courses that popularize scientific knowledge among the general public. So, instead of wnforming to the conventional abstract content that centers on highly academic and strictly systematic theoretical learning, great emphasis should be placed on problems that puzzle students in actual ~ractice. ~ n i w l e d g is, e thus, Lparted to students by way i f helping them solve actual problems. This is particularly true of urimary and secondary education. ~ i - t o - d a t eand objective teaching methods should be introduced so as to appeal to students' interests. Vivid and thought-provoking methods usually are more effective and easily accepted by students. Acting in the spirit of the international conferences on chemistry teaching that I have attended in recent years, I have, starting from the spring of 1992, offered the coune of Soeial Organic Chemistry to replace Application of Organic Chemistry" and have worked out a series of teaching notes. Graduating students of both Grade 92 and Grade 93 in the Chemistry Department attended my lectures, which they found enlightening, and were enthusiastic thmughout the learning process. Social Organic Chemistry-An STS-Based Course Social Organic Chemistry is a wurse in applied chemistry that deals with the application of the principles and fundamentals of oreanic chemistrv in different areas of society. It usually is regarded a s a kntinuation course tn Basic Organic Chemiscrv It a i m to broaden and enrich the h o w c d g e of students, especially those in teachers' colleges, to enable them to put theoretical knowledge they have learned into actual practice. Moreover, it also is intended to reveal the fact that chemistry, particularlv organw chemistry, exists everywhere, is applied everywhere, and has become an almost indispensable part of daily life. In this way, students are inspired to devote themselGes tn chemistry research in the future. Students in teachers'colleges also should be equipped with the practical techniques needed for their future work. After their graduation, they should not only be able to offer chemistry courses in secondary schools, but they also should be competent enough to offer wurses in practical techniques and carry out extracurricular activities to popularize the knowledee of chemistrv. With tLe developmekt of the science of organic chemistry, Social Organic Chemistry has come into being to meet the demands of the modern age. Science is more and more closely related to social life, the social economy, and different areas of high technology. Organic Chemistry is applied nowadavs in almost all a s ~ e c t sof life: thus. there is a pressing demand for knowlebge concernkg or&c chemistry (for example an elementary knowledge of nutrition, environmental pollution, and protection), and for knowledge concerning the properties and utilization of organic chemical products. In the present age when science is unVolume 71 Number 6 June 1994
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dereoine raoid ommess. there will be an increasine demand f> kiowlkdge of this science. So the offering z t h e new course Social Oreanic Chemistrv is undoubtedlv timely.
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Content and Structure of the Course One feature about the content of the course is that Soeial Organic Chemistry is not centered on the system of the functional groups as is Basic Organic Chemistry. It proceeds from the practical application of organic chemistry in different areas of the national economy and from various chemical phenomena with which students are familiar. Then it also gives theoretical enlightenment. So students are well acquainted with both the theoretical and practical knowledge of organic chemistry The course also covers some appropriate techniques adopted in making chemical products for use in everyday life. Thus, theory is combined with oractice book knowledee with functional knowledee. and kudent interest in leaking is kept up. The pres&t lecture notes serve as a textbook and a t the same time. can he used both as reference material and as a technical & IU -I ual. So this course actually demonstrates the trinity of science, technology, and society in education. Students benefit from the interestine and enliehtenine learniue Drocess. Students'reports show that thecourse Kelps to $den and deepen the scope of their scientific and technological knowledge, through which they come to know better both the social and the natural environment. The course also equips them with practical techniques that help to build up in them the competence to deal with practical problems they come acmss in industrial production processes and in everyday life. he eourse Social Organic Chemistry that I have offered has the following content:
Reform of Instruction in Chemical Experiments in China's Middle Schools Yang Xianchang and Xlong Yan Central Ch na Normal Unweraty,430070 Wuhan, P. R. China It is quite obvious that instruction using experiments plays an important role in teaching chemistry, but how to make it more effective is still a subject worthy of study and has become a focus of research in chemical pedagogy. the trends in the reform of laboratory instruction in China's middle schools are discussed.
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Research on the Three Principles in l n s t ~ c t i o n
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1. !Raehing and Studying. In teaching, instructors s h h d play guiding roles, and students should study actively. This process includes exchanges of thought and knowledge between teachers and students. 2. Grasping Skill and Knowledge and Developing Cognitiue Ability. The skill and knowledge grasped are the bases of the continuous development of cognitive ability. The students should have systematic and fundamental knawledge of modem science. They should be able to take up advanced studies by themselves. Thua, simultaneously promoting increased knowledge and skills and developing cognitive ability are the objectives of the teaching course. 3. Unified Learning and Understanding. An entire learning cycle includes three stages-learning, maintaining, and retaining. The teaching approach must parallel the laws underlying the understanding process, i. e., fmm perception to reason, and from the wimple to the difficult. This
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Chapter I. Intmduction Chapter 11. Organic Chemistry in Daily Life (various aspects of daily life: fwd, clothing, everyday articles, lodging, transportation, etc.) .Chapter 111. Organic Chemistry in Medicine (including Chinese medicine, Western medicine and Medieare) Chapter Organic Chemistry in Agriculture (pesticides, fertilizers, etc.) C h a p t e r V. Organic Chemistry in Industry ChapterVI. Organicchemistry in Military Science Chapter VII. Organic Chernistry in High Technology
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As a newly designed course, "Social Organic Chemishy" better reflects the features of STS Education than older ones. However, as with all new endeavors, it still needs development. Issues such as how it should be organized, what content it should cover, and whether practical classes should be included need to be explored. All these aspects will b e refined through t h e teaching process. 510
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of teaching approach used in laboratoly instruction in china's middle schools.
Journal of Chemical Education
