Chemical Education Today
From Past Issues
The More Things Change… Volume 1, Number 8 As mentioned last month there were no issues in July or August 1924. After the Journal ’s first six issues, Neil Gordon and his colleagues took a welldeserved rest in the seventh and eighth months of publication—summer months, when many readers would be on vacation. Volume 1, Number 8 is the September issue, and we will report on it next month. Volume 25, Number 8 This issue began with a paper on the history of phosphorus chemistry by Wilhelm Prandtl of the University of Munich. Phosphorus was isolated from urine in Hamburg in 1765 by Henning Brand. The figure shows a page from a book by Johann Sigismund Elsholtz that describes the wondrous phosphorescent properties of this element. Prandtl related that the earliest truly scientific observations of phosphorus were carried out by Robert Boyle, who published his results in 1682. According to Elsholtz, phosphorus “not only lit up itself as do the glowworms that fly through the air on summer nights, but to the astonishment of the onlookers it also transferred the same whitish shimmer to the finger with which it had been rubbed.” Protective gloves would certainly be recommended today, given the poisonous character of white phosphorus. William J. Wiswesser, Wilson Products, Inc., argued strongly against continuing to include the Bohr theory in teaching atomic structure, concluding that “none but a dualistic particle–wave theory has any sound teaching value.” In a paper titled “An Introduction to Electrophoresis”, Robert A. Alberty, 930
University of Wisconsin, described the electrophoretic cell pictured here and pointed out that application of this technique to biological and physical problems was growing rapidly. Henry M. Leicester, College of Physicians and Surgeons, San Francisco, described the circumstances attending the fact that Dmitrii Ivanovich Mendeleev, the greatest Russian scientist of his day, was never elected to membership in the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences—the highest honor Russia could give to a scientist. That scientists are not immune to lapses of objectivity and fairness is clearly documented. A paper titled “Guinea Pigs in the Classroom” by Horace G. Deming, University of Hawaii, reported, perhaps more apologetically than necessary, a series of pedagogical experiments carried out in his classroom. Deming’s point of view is exemplified by two statements from his paper: “the sole difference between a good teacher and a poor one is that the former makes students work and the latter lets them loaf ” and “Students can be made to enjoy effort, if they see that effort pays out.” An article titled “Women as Professional Chemists” by Cornelia T. Snell, Foster D. Snell, Inc., described the education requirements for entering the profession and observed that in chemistry “you are largely in a man’s world.” In addition Snell recommended that students get “an education as well as preparation for a particular type of job.” Volume 50, Number 8 One of the books reviewed in August 1948 was The Chemistry of Organic Compounds by Conant and Blatt. The August 1973 issue reported that Melvin Greenstadt of Fairfax High School in Los Angeles had been awarded ACS’s James Bryant Conant Award in High School Chemistry Teaching at the Dallas ACS meeting. This year’s June issue reported on awards presented at the Dallas ACS meeting 25 years later, including Conant awardee Maria Walsh. Phosphorus chemistry was featured in August 1973 as well as August 1948.
Rivers Singleton, Jr., Ames Research Center, NASA, described the bioorganic chemistry of phosphorus. General reactivity and bonding, hydrolysis of phosphate esters, and mechanisms of phosphate ester hydrolysis, including enzyme catalysis (see figure), were discussed. Two papers described computer simulations. Cummings and Wartell of Metropolitan State College reported a minicomputer simulation of chemical kinetics that is based on the same idea as the much more sophisticated KinWORKS by Richard Ramette that has been published by JCE Software. “Computer-Simulated Qualitative Inorganic Chemistry” was the title of a paper by Larry D. Francis of the University of Illinois. Delivered via the PLATO system, this interactive lesson simulated part of the inorganic qualitative analysis scheme. In a Provocative Opinion, Edward K. Mellon of Florida State argued strongly that lectures should not be replaced by instructional systems such as the then-popular Keller Plan, or by computer-based lessons. Mellon concluded that “No single system will serve the needs of all students” and suggested that courses should include Keller-plan or computer-based training but ought not dispense with lectures or other pedagogical tools. Instructors could then determine the relative importance to be assigned each mode of instruction.
Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 75 No. 8 August 1998 • JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu
