VOL.2, NO.6
Gnom EXAMINATIONS IN CHEMISTRY
441
GROUP EXAMINATIONS IN CHEMISTRY FRANK C . WHITMORE, NoRTnwEsTErui UNIVERSITY, EVANSTON, ILL. All teachers recognize that examinations have certain advantages and certain disadvantages. Among the advantages are that they encourage or force the students to review their subjects and get a broad general view otherwise unobtainable; that they give the students a chance to check up on their mastery of the subject; and that they give the teacher an insight into his success or failure in imparting knowledge or in stimulating his students to acquire knowledge. Among the disadvantages are the generally recognized common lack of accurate coordination between a student's actual mastery of the subject and the results of the ordinary type of examination; the fact that the examination usually comes a t the end of some period of learning and thus unearths weaknesses when i t is too late to remedy them; and the fact that students usually cram for examinations and thus do not show what might he called their normal mental content in the subject. At Northwestern University we have had the common experience of finding among our graduate students surprising weaknesses in various elementary studies. Subjects studied several years before have been forgotten, not merely as to detailed facts but also as to fundamental principles. I n an effort to get mental cross sections of our group from time to time and thus unearth weaknesses in earlier or present training while there is still time to fortify such weaknesses there has been introduced a system of "Group Examinations." These examinations correspond to the new type of standardized test sometimes called "recognition tests." The novel feature in the present case is that the examinations are taken anonymously, so to speak. A large group of students is supplied with
copies of the current examination. Each one marks the answers to the best of his ability and drops his examination sheet in a box. Neither his name nor any distinguishing mark appears on the paper. The papers are looked over by the faculty to get a cross section of the current knowledge of the group on the subjects covered. Needless to say, the faculty gains much useful information in this way. When the students leave the room they usually gather in groups and argue about certain questionsa healthy sign. Later a copy of the examination is posted with the proper answers marked. There are many obvious advantages in this system and more are becoming apparent all the time. Among the less obvious ones is the possibility of asking questions which would be considered "unfair" in a regular examination. This makes it possible to check up on various extra-cumcular chemical knowledge such as current chemical events, noted chemists and the like. Part of a typical examination follows:
C H E ~ S T RDYE P A R ~ NGROUP T, TESTNO. 1 Underline proper words, symbols, etc. 1. Red pren'pitak, silver, lead, mercury, copper, chromium, cinnabar 2. Oxygen i s present in sulfides, nitrides, chlorides, nitrates, hydrocarbons 3. Most abundant elemmt, aluminum, calcium, chlorine, oxygen, sodium 5. Oxygen unites directly with Al, Ca, C, Cu, Fn, Au, He, Hn, Mg 6. Oxygen discovered by Scheele, Lavoisier, Cavendish, Priestley 11. Liebig discovered or knented bromine, sulfuric acid, "baby food" 12. J. F. Novir, Calurr.hia, George Washington Univ., Harvard, M. I. T., Yale 13. Hydrogen occum in Earth, Air, Fire, Water 17. Reduction of nitric acid, nitric oxide, ammonia, NOn, nitrous oxide 18. Zinc i s more active than Al, Ca, Cu, Au, Fe, Pb, Mg. Hg, Pt, K 20. Reduction, addition of oxygen, addition of hydrogen, addition of electrons, removal of electrons 22. Atmospheric pressurc is measured by a eudiometer, barometer, psychrometer, manometer, cathetometer, catathermometer 31. Watcr decomposed by heat, light, electricity, alpha particles 34. Carbon d i o d e , more soldlc than Hs, N*,On,SOn,NH,, HC1 40. Inert gases, argon, boron, columbium, erbium, helium, holmium, krypton, neon, niton, radon, rhodium, thulium, xenon 49. Ozidiaing agents, hydrogen peroxide, dichromates, ferrous salts, nitric oxide 50. Ionization, carbohydrates, salts, alcohols, ketones, acids.
It will be seen a t once that a proper choice of materials for the questions will make this type of Group Examination a valuable educational aid.
