From Mt. Holyoke: An Emerging Spirit
The campus a t Mt. Holyoke has the kind of charm and fascination that quickly puts you at peace with the world, and the kind of simplicity and elegant frugality that reminds you of obligation and of the need for personal effort. I t is an ideal setting for assembling such bedeviled groups as the chemical education clan, and for letting them experience some New England encounter therapy. Undoubtedly, this is one reason i t was selected by the Division of Chemical Education for the conference that has been called the sequel to Snowmass. Unlike the Snowmass conference a t which attendance was limited to assure representation from all parts of the chemical community, and to provide manageable size study groups consistent with the conference format and goals, the Mt. Holyoke conference was planned to encourage participation by all interested in chemical education. The committee expected about 250 participants, but over 600 asked to come. Campus facilities could accommodate comfortably only about 450, so final registration was limited to this number. The conference was held during the period August 22-25. I n many ways the Mt. Holyoke conference was remarkable. No less than 73 formal presentations on a t least a dozen different facets of education in chemistry were given during the three morning and two evening sessions. During all sessions the auditorium was filled and the participants remained throughout, even well past 11:00 P.M. on one occasion. Question periods following the papers were challenging and stimulating. Differences of opinion were expressed and discussed so calmly and empatbetically that one participant Tyas heard to remark that only liberals must be in attendance. A large fraction of the participants were under 30, and many were attending a Division of Chemical Education activity for the first time. Several unscheduled sessions were organized on topics such as grading, opportunities for women, secondary school matters and audio-visud aids. Post-session discussions ran well into the early morning hours in some instances. Everyone had an opportunity to contribute, few failed to take advantage of it. Local arrangements-food, housing, meeting rooms and facilities, recreation, social activities, transportation-dl were handled expertly. While the conference report-scheduled tentatively to appear in the Jancsry, 1973 issue of TaIs JOURNALwill provide summaries of all present,ations and scheduled discussions, we list here the major topics of the formal sessions: Objectives of Education in Chemistry, the Keller Plan, Student-Teacher Contracts, Student Participation in Instruction, Behavioral Objectives, Student Evaluation of Instruction, Undergraduate Education for Majors, the Major of the Future; Beyond the Conventional Classroom, Combat-
Ieditorially ing Technical Obsolescence, Rent A Prof., Videotape Exchange Programs, The British Open University, The British Open University concept a t an American College; Chemistry for Preprofessional Students, Engineers, Nurscs, Biology Majors; Special Curricula; Individualized Instruction in Larye Courses; Relevance: Chemistry for Pleasure or for Profit; Environmental Chemistry; Chemistry for Chemical Technicians; Chemistry f'or Nonscience Majors. Highlight of the conference was the Thursday evening session where the presentations ranged from the most profound-in Harold Cassidy's, "Relevance," and Robert DeSieno's, "'Mixed Emotions on Relevance,"through the most moving-in Hubert Alyea's, "The Importance of Irrelevancy," and Leon Mandell's, "Things My Mother Told Me,"-to the most delightful-in David Hurnphreys', "Individualized Approaches in Freshman Chemistry Instruction," and Derek Davenport's use of Eskimo art to introduce the panelists on relevancy. It was the nearest thing we havc seen to a Chem Ed Talent show and the whole affair, though long and exhausting, made us proud to bc in this business. There were other high points and surprises also. Among them were the provocative British after dinner mystery slides, made even more mysterious by the projectionist's choice of a lens for the occasion and by thc American speaker's reaching hat must have been an all-time high on his own rhetoric. Then there was thc discriminate women's caucus that, after a few meetings and some thought, decided it was better to be at lcast a little indiscriminate these days, whereupon they invited interested males to attend their sessions. Perhaps most popular of all were t,he twice-daily short courses on volummetric techniques and colloid chemistry offered by the younger members of the Mt. Holyoke chemistry faculty. All-in-all it vas a highly successfulconference. Despite an incredibly heavy schedule of papers and despite the very limited time given to some speakers, many participants suggested changing thcse arrangements only s1ight.l~ a t future conferences. Henry Bent, Anna Harrison and the other members of the planning and implementing committees are to be highly commended. Also to be commended are the 450 participants for their interest and dedication. This was surely the most heartening aspect of all. As we reflect back on Mt. Holyoke and on the New England encounter therapy wc saw and experienced there, we sense that a new and more empathetic spirit is emerging in the chemical education community; a spirit that is characterized more by an honest search to find a better way than by any preconceived notion of what is good or bad-save only that chemistry has somcthing to offerall who would be enlightened. WTL
Volume 49, Number 10, October 7 972
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