Diverse Courses for Diverse Students by James M. Dusablon Loyola Academy Wilmette, Illinois 60091 Loyola Academy is the largest Jesuit high school in the United States with an enrollment of 1650 male commuting students. The Academy is located in Wilmette, Illinois, about twenty miles north of downtown Chicago, the students attending coming from diverse backgrounds in the city and suburbs. The entire curriculum is college prep. Our chemistw Droeram has to he as diverse as our students' interests and a&ubes. Besides participating in the Integrated Science Program, an alternate way to satisfy the science requirement a t Loyola Academy, our Chemistry Department also offers Basic Chemistry, Chemistry I, and Advanced Placement Chemistry. 0ve; 400 students are presently enrolled in s m w chemistry program. Our h s i c Chemis~ryw u r l e is a laboratury-ori~ntedpruor Basic gram, limited tt, students in our Learning i)isat~ili~y Mathematics Program. Chemistry I is the regular high school chemistry course, comprehensive and emphasizing the quantitative aspects of chemistry. This course is for our students in the regular high school mathematics Droeram. . Besides our regular Advanced Placement sequence-one year of Chemistry I followed by Advanced Placement Chemistry-we also initiated an Honors Advanced Placement course this year which combines Chemistry I and Advanced Placement Chemistry in a one-year program. My teaching load consists of three sections of Basic Chemistry and one section of Honors Advanced Placement Chemistry. It is very difficult for me to pick out what I like teaching best because I simply enjoy teaching. However, I do like diversity and challenge and since I have been a t Loyola I have probably gotten the most satisfaction from developing the Basic
James M. Dusablon holds a BS degree in chem~stryand an. MEd . deeree w~tha eoncentratlon m e h k s t r v from Xnvier Universitv
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Chemical Corps, he taught for
( eight years at St. Xavier High
-74School ~n Cincinnati. While there 1 he served as Chairman of the Science Department and started an Advanced Placement Program in Chemistry. He left St. Xavier after the 1968-69 school year to teach at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois, where he was also appointed Chairman of the James M. Dusablon Science Department. In 1976 he Loyoia Academy was the recipient of the Davidson Wilmette, Illinois 60091 Award given by the Chemical Industries Council of the Midwest. This award is presented annually tc a high schoolteacher in the Chicago area in recognition of outstanding high school chemistrv teachine. In 1977. Mr. Dusahlon received one of six regional awards presented by the Manufacturing Chemists Association. This award recognizes excellence in teaching chemistry and service to the scientific community in instructing and inspiring students. f
800 1 Journal of Chemical Education
Chemistry program and watchina students succeed with it. In a sen&, tThe program was started by default. We were teaching the Introductory Physical Science (IPS) course to one or two sections of D averaee math students whom we knew would have problems in the regular Chemistry I course. And the course worked for these students. but it caused some difficulty because many of them foundthat as upperclassmen in high school they were taking the same course as their 7th and 8th grade brothers and sisters. We decided to avert this ~otentiallvembarrassing situation hv developing . - a new program, a n d 1 was commis~ionedto do-so. Since my background was chemistry I decided the new program would b e some kind of chemistry course. 1 noticed while teaching the IPS that the students involved enjoyed all the laborator> work, and often developed good laboratory techniques. So I decided to build the program around the lahoratory experience, keeping in mind certain specific points 1) The course had to he on a college prep level as this would he the only lahoratory science some of the students would have in high
school. I wanted to make sure that they would he prepared to take at least an introductory chemistry course in college. 2) I knew the students could not handle all the topics included in the regular high school program, so I had to pick the ones I thought the students would benefit from the most. 3) I had to be careful with topics involving mathematics because of the poor background these students brought with them. 4) 1 had to make sure the laboratory experiences helped develop and reinforce the topics I chose. After consultation with other science teachers at Loyola and with some advice from some n A w e ~rofeswrs,I decided the topics I would include, a t least
