John D. Hostettler' a n d Kenneth Brooks University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Colorado Springs, CO 80907
II
Chemistry in "The *sent of Man"
In 1959, C. P. Snow described the relationship between two cultures-that of scientists and that of literary intellectuals-in the following terms: Between the two a gulf of mutual ineamprehension-sometimes (particularly among the young) hostility and dislike, but most of all lack of understanding. They have a curious distorted image of each other. ( I ) Snow went on to point out that the mutual ignorance and hostilitv of the two cultures has serious.. . practical. and verv undesirable consequences for sbciety a t large. His ideas created intense debate but not the educational reforms he so urgently sought. Durine the 1950's Jacob Bronowski had been express in^ many of the same ideas in a series of lertttrri entitled "Science and tlumnn Values." Hronowski, as a mathetnatician plying his trade in the sciences and as apoet, literary critic, historian and philosopher of science, was uniquely qualified to address both scientists and literary intellectuals. In addition, as an administrator, inventor, and teacher, he was keenly aware of and concerned about the uractical conseauences of the two cultures split. In the late sixties Bronowski was persuaded bv the British Brmdcilstiny Corporation (LlR(:r to narrate a wrwi of films on theevolution ofscirnccannlogoujt~,SirKenneth (Iark's "Civilisation" series on the evol;tion of art. Thirteen films collectively titled "The Ascent of Man: A Personal View By Jacob Bronowski" were produced. The series was telecast by the BBC in Britain and by the Public Broadcasting System in this country in the early seventies. In these films, Bronowski visits 27 countries recreating times from prehistoric to modern and ranrine " " over subiects as diverse as stone aee tools and relativity. It is an impressive series-fresh, dramatic, visually powerful-but it has its faults and its critics. Specialists often object that the films' treatment of their disciplines is superficial, inaccurate. and biased. Some generalists take issue with ~ronhwski'shis&rical generalizatiok, his romantic vision of the nature of man, and his bullish attitudes toward science and technology. Philosophers find Bronowski's "personal view" to be far less than a coherent, systematic philosophy. Finally, there is the danger of being charmed by a masterful teacher and potent images into believing everything Bronowski says-a phenomenon that might be referred toas the St. Jacob syndrome. For all its faults, the films come across as lyrical, inspiring, and stimulating masterpieces on the way science came to be and what it means to society. In Britain and then Presented in p v t at the 4th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, Madison, Wisconsin, August 1976. Correspondence should be addressed to this author. 2Additional sources of information on "The Ascent of Man" courses: University Extension, University of California, San Diego, PO. Box 109,La Jolla, CA 92037; Miami-Dade Community College, 11011 S.W. 104th Street, Miami, FL 33156; The Corporation fur Public Broadcasting, 111 16th Street N.W., Washington,DC 2003% Center for Advanced Study in Education, Graduate Center, City University of New York,33 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036; Ontario Educational Communications Authority, Media Resource Centre, P.O. Bux 200, Station Q, Toronto, Ontario MT1 2T1; ERIC Document Reproduction Service, P.O. Box 190, Arlington, VA 22210. :'These films can he rented or purchased from Time-LifeFilms, Time & Life Building, New York, NY 10020. Loan or rental may also be arranged thnmgh the film divisions of some state libraries. 430 / Journal of Chemical Education
again in America, this BBC series has been a smashing success. In the wake of this wave of popularity have arisen some 500 courses ( 2 ) based upon "The Ascent of Man" film^.^,^ Manv of these courses use commercial materials (3-9) which hoG closely to the script of the films. The University of Colorado a t Colorado Springs (UCCS) course does not use the commercial materials but does use the films. We hope to avoid some of the problems inherent in the films whiie retaining their strenpths. Our course has several novel features and includes a considerable amount of chemistry. In this paper we describe "The Ascent of Man" course a t UCCS, some successful chemical topics in it, and the use of these topics in traditional chemistry courses. The UCCS Course on "The Ascent of Man" "The Ascent of Man" was established as a two semester. three credit honors elective a t UCCS in 1975-76. ~ n r o l l m e n i was limited to 30 upperclass honors students. Majors in science, the humanities and professional areas took the course. Sixteen facultv from eleven disciplines in arts and sciences were involvedjn planning and teaching various segments of the course. One of the present authors served as course coordinator (JDH).' The major theme of our course, and of the films, is the evolution of science with a special emphasis on the interdependence of science, art, and society. The scope of the course is obviouslv verv broad. In order tomake it more manaeeable. we have organized its content chronologically by ages: Prehistoric. Medieval. Renaissance. Enliehtenment. Victorian. ~ o d e r nand , Future. The films ioughry correlate with these ages so that two films can be assigned to each age (see the table). Four to five weeks of class time were allotted to each of the seven ages. Each age was introduced with a film and general d i s r ~ ~ s s i m Then . the appropriate faculty devellc;wgruld seem appropriate in a history of chemistry course for chemists 161)or nonrhemisrs (6'). One topic rould serve as the suhiect matter of a "winterim" minicourse. Alchemy has beendeveloped in this way elsewhere (63). Another way to use the chemical topics is to condense them to lecture length. We have used "The Chemical Revolution" topic as a lecture in our science majors' general chemistry course to stimulate interest in stoichiometry and reinforce earlier lectures on scientific method and measurement. "Science and the Steam Engine" can he used in physical chemistry as an introductory thermodynamics lecture or as part of a Carnot cycle lecture. A third means of exploiting the chemical topics is to use them as supplementary material: lecture aids, discussion topics, or extra credit exercises. An abridged version of "The Manhattan Project" which emphasizes the nuclear science of the thirties is a very effective way to communicate the princ i ~ afeatures l of radioactivity, transmutation, and fission to general rhemists. A brief referenre i n n lecture to impending bioethical problems can underscore the importance of nurleic acid chemistry and motivate otherwise disinterested students in the biochemistry sections of general chemistry courses.
Conclusions Course evaluations showed that student interest in the five chemical topics was very high. The three most popular topics were "Alchemy," "The Manhattan Project," and "Man and Superman." More papers were written on each of these three topics thau any other topics in "The Ascent of Man" course. While no papers relevant to "Science and the Steam Engine" were written. students found this t o ~ i to c he interesting and enjoyable. he students, especially t
