lowship from CETL, and from the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
An Introductory Chemistry Course Involving Nonlinear Dynamics Joseph E. Earley Georgetown Ln versity Wash nglon. DC 20057 There have been only three truly rnajor shins in the general view of how the world works (''the idea of nature" ( 1 ) ) . In ancient Greece, mythlcal thinlung became transformed into ohilosoohv. and notions about how the world o ~ e r a t e s were' fundam&.ally changed. During the ~enai'ssance, Greek ideas were s u ~ ~ l a n t and e d a new. mechanistic. outlook on the natural world emerged, as Newtonian science develooed. Introductory science courses generally use a traditional "story line". Along with their otLer functions, such courses disseminate concepts of nature that developed in the seventeenth centuryl~enaissancecosmolo& Usually, one starts with some pre-existing phenomenon or class of object and demonstrates how that piece of the world can be understood a s composed of smaller components, themselves made of lesser bits. The main theme of such a story is analysis. Human concerns, including those of typical students, find little place in Renaissance cosmology. The third period in which the idea of nature has undergone profound change is our own tine. Anticipations of a fourth concept of nature (historical and synthetic, rather than mechanical and analytic) can be traced to the eighteenth century; Darwin's achievement in the mid-nineteenth centurv broueht this changed outlook to eeueral attention. ~ e c l n de&lopments t nonlinear dGamics (2) and related fields (3) have solidified its intellectual basis. This emerging evolutionary cosmology does not fit naturallv into the traditional stow line of introductory science courses, framed on Renaissance assumptions. In the past few decades, advances in many fields of science (e.g., chemical evolution (4))have wnverged to generate a highly wherent story (5)of the beginning of the cos-
mos, concrescence of the earth, origin oflife, biological and human evolution, and development and spread of technolo-w and culture across the world. A new introductory chemistry wurse being developed a t Georgetown University uses a nontraditional story line to emphasize synthesis; how important objects, including ourselves, have come to be by integration of products of prior syntheses. Emphasis oncontikity between the evolution of scientific understanding and other aspects of human culture with other kinds of;latural evolutibn reinforces the notion that humans and human culture are portsof rather thanxcpamte from nature and teaches that yet further novel intepations including technological Innovation are necessary tfi). It is hoped that each student will recogruze an opportunity and perhaps even a responsibilitv creativelv in this oneoine orocess. - to oarticioate . A one-semester, three-credit; lecture course was f r s t offered in the Fall 1992 followed by a one-semester, threecredit, laboratory course during Spring 1993. Students enrolline in the courses have been ~ r i m a r i l va r t s and huma&ies majors. A textbook, probfem book,~collections of collateral readinas, and demonstrations - . exoeriments . are in various stages of completion. I t is anticipated that initial versions of these materials will be available in the Spring 1994. I n Fall 1994, a single section of the course for up to two hundred students will be offered. Graduate students will serve as recitation section instructors. Alongterm goal is to w n s t m d a wurse sequence based on the described approach that will be appropriate for first-year chemistry majors. - A
Acknowledgment This work has been suooorted under the Grant No. DUE-9150539 from the ~a'tfonalScience Foundation's Division of Undergraduate Education. Literature Cited 1. Callingwaad, R.0. Thpl&a ofNUurp:Oxford University:Oxford, 1946. 2. Nicholls, G.;Rigo@ne,I. E p b r i n g Complexity:Freeman:New Yorh 1989. 3. Kauffman, Buart A. The Ori@nr of Or&r:Sd~Org~i2ation and S e k f b n in Emlulion: W o r d Univenitv: Oxford. 1993.
t o m University, 1991.
Volume 70 Number 12 December 1993
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