AN EXPERIMENT ON THE USE OF JOURNAL ARTICLES IN TEACHING ELEMENTARY COLLEGE CHEMISTRY* HOYT C. GRAHAM. NEWMEXICOSTATE 'hACAERS' COLLEGE. SEVERCITY,NEWMEXICO
An effort to make elementary college chemistry more practical and interesting for non-chemistry majors has been made at the New Mexico State Teachers' College. The fundamentals of chemistry were taught in close relation to the students' environment. This was accomplished by teaching more subject matter from science journals and popular magazines. These journal and magazine articles stimulated interest and motivated the class to study fundamental laws and theories. A s a result of this motivation preuiously indifferent students took a n interest in the work and test grades showed thet the quality of the work was as good as for previous classes taught i n the traditional way.
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At the present time much attention is being given to revising elementary college chemistry in order to make it more practical for non-chemistry majors. This has been a major problem in the chemistry department of the New Mexico State Teachers' College. The majority of our students who enrol for elementary chemistq do not expect to pursue the subject farther Too many of them enrol merely on account of the nine-hour laboratory science requirement for graduation. As a rule this type of student has shown little interest in the subject and has often failed to complete the year's course. Two years ago the author undertook to work out some method of conducting elementary chemistry by which the interest and cooperation of the non-majors could be obtamed and the number of withdrawals and failures decreased without lowering the standard of the work. Most excellent results were obtained after the middle of last school year when elementary chemistry was converted into what might be called a course in environmental chemistry. The term environmental chemistry seems appropriate since the students were permitted much freedom in choosing the subjects or topics for study and since fundamentals and theories were always related to the students' environment. The subject matter for the course was taken largely from science jourOP CHEMICAL EDUCATION, School nals and magazines, such as, JOURNAL Science and Mathemutics, Saturday Evening Post, World's Work, etc. The author has been led to believe that if the excellent material contained in the science journals, popular magazines, and newspapers is studied in the light of the theories and fundamentals in the textbooks the problem of creating interest and enthusiasm in indifferent students will tend to disappear. After all, the subjects which are discussed in our popular magazines and newspapers are subjects of general interest. These are * Read before the Division of Chemical Education at the 80th meeting of the American Chemical Society, Cincinnati, Ohio, Sept. 10, 1930. 531
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the subjects on which our students will need to converse after leaving college. In our work the articles were not read as outside material and the idea was not to supplement the text. Both journal or magazine and textbook materials were taught together. The one was considered as important as the other. The fundamental laws and theories were stressed just as much as when the text was used more nearly alone; however, more stress was placed upon the importance of these laws and theories as means of explaining phenomena with which the students were already somewhat familiar. This connected the fundamentals of chemistry with the students' environment. They learned principles and theories as a means to an end rather than as ends in themselves. In order to obtain suitable journal and magazine material a card index or reference was made to all articles which promised to be useful, contained in every volume of four journals in our library. Many references to isolated articles in various magazines were made. These cards were filed according to source or subject. Our topics were studied as nearly as possible according to a unit system. An example will be given from the unit on metals. A certain amount of time was d o t e d to the general topic of metals. Before this time all card references to metals were taken from the files, the articles were read rapidly by the instructor and a few notes on each article were recorded on the cards. During class periods the instructor encouraged general discussions on any topics dealing with metals. He attempted to direct the discussion toward some topic on which he desired to make an assignment. The instructor's purpose was to motivate the class. When the entire class became sufiiciently interested in some discussion involving points not covered in the day's assignment a future assignment was immediately made from the card references. By this method the students felt that they were studying the things that they were interested in and wanted to study. They felt that the chemistry course was for their benefit and that the final goal was not the mere completion of a certain text or outlme. They were at liberty to pursue their own interests and solve their own problems. In studying the unit on metals no attempt was made to follow the order of the text. When the class became interested in aluminum we studied aluminum. Two articles on this metal were assigned in addition to the chapter in the text. The articles added color and romance to the subject of aluminum. The contribution of Charles Hall was more fully appreciated after studying a four-page article on the present-day uses of aluminum. Let us consider a second example. Wbile studying the inert gases two articles were assigned in addition to that contained in the text. One of these articles was in the Popular Science Monthly and the other in the
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Saturday Evening Post. The class as a whole became interested in a journal topic dealing with the application of helium to deep-sea diving as a means of preventing the "bends." They askedfor more information on the "bends." An assignment dealing with the use of compressed air in deepsea diving was made from the WorWs Work. Their interest in deep-sea diving led to a general review of gas laws and gas solubilities. The interest then turned to the inert nature of the gases and led to the study of atomic structure. The above examples show how these articles serve as a means of motivating the study of laws and theories. The author has seen previously indifferent students study with enthusiasm a theory which offeredthe best explanation of some phenomenon with which they were already more or less familiar but which they had not been able to understand on account of their limited experience. The opinion of the author is that we do not need to worry about changing the kind of chemistry we teach. We must continue to teach fundamentals with as much force as ever hut these fundamentals must be closely related to the students' environment. The question of measurable results will naturally arise. Test marks indicated that these students knew as much about the fundamentals of chemistry as members of previous classes which were taught in the traditional way. The author feels that the results of tests, and improved interest and cooperation of the class were sufficient to recommend the method. The author also feels that it is the duty of science courses to introduce college students to popular science literature* and that this was successfully accomplished. * In connection with The Chemistry Student section of the JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION from September, 1929, through June, 1930, abstracts of artides from Scientific American, Popular Science Monthly, Science end Invention, and PopIller Mechanks were published. A subject index of these abstracts may be found on pages 3093-101 of the December, 1930, J O ~ A LThis . abstract work is now being continued in The Chemistry Leaflet, the student supplement of the JOURNAL oa CHEMICAL EDUCATION.
