in this issue The two papers t h a t continue the polymer series we started last month are designed for the second approach: incorporation into the current course structure. Marentette and Brown (page 539) provide a n interesting study of crystalline kinetics using polymers, which can illustrate both solid state kinetics and polymers, two topics difficult to cover in the standard courses. The information on polymer additives reviewed bv Stevens (oaee .. 535) is oresented in a comprehensive iorm that allows teachers 6 u p grade their own knowledge and then use i t in their courses as appropriate. The material could be used for purposes as far-raneine as illustration of a articular introductorv concept to ~he&corporationinto a k a d u a t e course on p o i p e r chemistry. The course for which image modification is most often suggested is introductory chemistry. As the gateway to the rest of the curriculum, i t is expected to provide a survey of current chemical knowledge; the result has been to add each new unifying concept and theory and remove some of the specific chemical examples, greatly distorting the image of chemistry that students receive. Gillespie and Humphrey6 (page 528) suggest ways to reincorporate factual material into the general course, using it as a bridge to the principles and thereby creating a truly integrated course. While the approaches suggested above will give a more accurate image of the content of chemistrv. there is another aspect i f the image that has been ad&essed by two of our authors: Chemistw is often perceived as boring and irrelevant and its practi&oners as ;old and distant a&matons. MoGrew (page 543) got tired of the glazed look he received a t social occasions when he told people he was a chemist and developed a 60-second course in organic chemistry. He offers his syllabus both for use as a conversational ice-breaker and a s a way of conveying to a layperson an imaee of chemistrv as a n interesting and i m ~ o r t a n cont tribitor to modern life. Battino (page 562) ekamines the negative view of chemistry teachers and suggests the most basic of solutions-politeness and courtesy-to improve the imaee of scientists. Who knows. some mav even rub off on s t u d k t s and colleagues, improving, inegeneral, the image of the late 20th centuly.
Changing the Image of Chemistry Changing the Image of Chemistry was the theme of last summer's Biennial Conference on Chemical Education held by the Division of Chemical Education. This theme was manifested in many of the presentions, which are summarized in the rewrt bv Russell and Wood startine on the following page (523). kachers were urged to discarz the old ~ e r c e ~ t i o and n s formal divisions of chemistrv from their c;rric;la, use different teaching approach~s,and take advantaee of new technolow to Dresent students with a different view of chemistry g d itarole. Several articles in this issue indicate that such a orocess is alreadv underway and that their authors have all been expl&ing, in some aspect, the image of chemistry as perceived by their students and the public. As chemistry has matured a s a science, the old curricular divisions of organic, inorganic, physical, and analytical do not efficiently cover certain topics nor represent the way chemistry is really done. Biochemistry, for example, hecame a separate curricular subiect when it was apparent that i t was no longer merely a subset of organic che&stry, either in content or in practice. The number of courses can expand only so far, however, and the concepts and principles important to some major areas of research-such as polymer chemistry and the solid state-are still fragmented in the classic curriculum. Two basic approaches have been taken to create a n imaee of the imoortance of these topics to modem science: to create a separate course for them desoite time Dressures or to find wavs of showine the importake of the topics during the teaching of t h i mainstream courses. The former approach is taken by Boldyreva (page 5511, who created an entire course in solid state chemistm for third-year students. One guiding principle in creating the course was to show how the underlvine . -.~rinciolesof chemistry, such as electronic and atomic structure and thermodynamics and kinetics, apply to the solid state, showing the interrelationships between "molecular" and "crystal" models. The entire range of solids were considered, examples being taken from metals, ceramics, molecular crystals, glasses, ionic solids, etc.
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