G. P. Haight, Jr. School of Chemical Sciences University of Illinois Urbana
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Perils of Pedagogy: Or Trial by Error
It is a popular, even expected, ritual for people describing the work they do for a livelihood to dwell on the difficulties they have to overcome and the dissatisfactions even of success, painting a bleak picture for those who would go and do likewise. Teachers are not exceptional in this regard-hence, the title of this article. However, the occasion of the ACS Award has brought forth a communication with teachers, colleagues, students and family covering more than fifty years of "educational" exoerience enabline" me to make an extensive review of the perils of a t least one pedagogue, some rather enlightening discoveries of resources (mostly human) for dealing with such perils, and a general conclusion that dealing with and solvine ~ r o h l e m sassociated with teaching can he far more stirnurating and rewarding than it is fristrating and defeating. T o participate in teaching programs a t the college level is to suhiect oneself to a general atmosphere of professional put downs. "Teaching loaa" is discussed in terms of onerous activity which inhibits personal professional progress. "Teaching" is widely viewed as a refuge for inept and unproductive scholars as exemplified by the dictum "He who can, does!-he who cannot, teaches!"' Finally, those who choose to teach (at least a t the college level) have to face a general imnression that . oreoaration for teaching- is a t best an inade. quate, and a t worst a nonexistent, part of graduate training in their discidine. In this article I hope to treat such ~ udowns t and other perceived perils of the Gofession of t h e chemical educator. ~~~~
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Preparation for Teaching
No teacher can legitimately complain of a lack of opportunitv for trainine for the orofession. Evervone of us experienced I6 20 years ;f being tkught in school. o u t of that experience it should he possible to extract a wealth of examples and ideas concerning both teaching and learning to guide one in the practice of the profession. Most teachers, like most practitioners of other arts, must practice to become proficient; must, by trial and error, discover what works and doesn't work in a multiplicity of situations from individual tutorials, to classroom instruction, to management of multisectioned courses. In reviewing teachers andlearning situations which made a difference during my schooling, significant attributes of teachers and techniques of teaching stand out as lessons for would-be teachers. Meeting Special Needs of Individuals while Doing One's Best with the Crowd
In my high school Miss Statira Biggs taught all the freshmen algebra and all the higher math as well. She made very clear what she expected in terms of mental discipline and &ffort, demanded evidence of understanding, and worked with great effectiveness to identify intellectual difficulties and to help students overcome them. She was committed to the task of having each student learn the joy and value of stretching his mind. of develooine that tool that distinguishes man from other creatures. s h e taught the art of attaclzng problems, not just solving problems of prescribed form and procedure. Taken from the Award Address, 1979 ACS Award in Chemical Education, Honolulu, Hawaii, April 3,1919. 'Shaw, G. B., "Handbook far Revolutionists," 1903. 586 / Journal of Chemical Education
Dealing with Failure
Learnine to deal with failure was a lesson skillfullv and uniquely taught by Miss Biggs, who taught her best &dents how to fail by giving them problems that could not be solved. (One of the greatest perils to successful teaching is that most teachers have not experienced real academic difficulty as students. They are by and large A students, making it very difficult to e m ~ a t h i z ewith even the average, let alone the failing, student.) Attempts to teach such lessons are fraught with peril. for failure easily leads to discouragement and self doubt on the part of a student. However, failure for lack of talent or interest can have a positive, directing effect on careers. Good teachers identify and "award" failure and then, ideally, use the occasion to guide students. Teachers of such areasas manual training and engineering statics showed me that if I built edifices or equipment they would probably collapse, and thus that I should not be a carpenter, experimental physicist, or engineer, and incidentally taught me how failure on the part of myself and later, my students, can he dealt with honestly and constructively. Most of all, fear of failure and its paralytic effect on endeavor, was revealed as a manageable nrohlem. Other examples and insights from my teachers include Philip Leighton's delight with phenomena he could exhibit in lecture demonstrations and his delight with the mental cvmnastics of chemical nrohlenl-solvine. " He showed me the importance, not only of competence and delight in subject matter. but also the need for oersonal . iov"in the sharine of knowledge with others, in successful group teaching. I never met Leighton personally outside of class, hut his teaching was such as to lead me to major in his subject and remember his classes with great pleasure. Lockhart Rogers' first teaching assignment involved a quant course to which I had added two extra credits of independent study. Special assignments all had a relevance for experimentation-analyzing a bottle that had lost its label for identification and purity, determining sodium in soil from Panama to help engineers assess the feasibility of widening or deepening a section of the Canal. He taught the art of asking questions which might he answered by experiment. A good teacher induces questions on the part of his students rather than simolv . . evaluatine" their answers to his questions. Rogers, by example and by sometimes scathing criticism, encouraged a sense of pride in careful work
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Gilbert P. Haight, Jr., this year's recipient of the American Chemical Society Award in Chemical Education, is Professor and Director of the General Chemistry Program at the University of Illinois where his many innovations in undergraduate education have received national recognition. After receiving his Ph.D. from Princeton and spending a year at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, he taught at several major universities and colleges before joining the Illinois faculty in 1966. Active in the Division of Chemical Education, he served as Program Chairman in 1969 and Chairman in 1976. He is currently Chairman of his local ACS section. Dr. Haight has been recognized for his teaching contributions before, receiving the Connecticut Valley Award in Chemical Education in 1974and the MCA Catalyst Award in 1976.
in one whose hasic instincts are to short term, quick and dirty, activity. I t is most important that students learn their own weaknesses, how to manage in spite of them, and, if possihle, overcome them. Howell Furman, my graduate advisor, taught me the art of dealing with maverick students firmly, hut with good humor and charitv. I was a corner cutter. and he an analvst who never compromised technique fix speed. l arg~rvlln&lly that since 3 ~olarngravhgnveo~~ly I-3"caccuracs,.. I sho~lldbe permitted - . td perform quantitatiGe transfers and separations'less carefully. He didn'targue hut later gave me an assignment that required all operations to be done with atomic weight accuracy-a good lesson in how to deal positively with students of high ability who feel aneed to buck tradition for tradition's sake, or are just lazy. Linus Pauling, in discussing with students a t Oxford how to approach the problems of the world and living in it, urged them to seek and accept relevant information from others, hut then to rely on their own judgment to decide questions of what to believe. how to act. what to strive for. A teacher who permits or encourages challenges by students t o his teaching or course content is in ~ e r ifor l both his selfesteem and hiHcredihility with students. But, how else can we develop independence of thought and judgment unless we push our best students beyond ourselves. My greatest compliment came at commencement when a physics major who'd taken inorganic chemistry told me his greatest thrill in college was the realization (in my course) that he could push beyond his teachers in the mastery of subject matter. The perils inherent in student challenges are far outweighed by the possible injection of vigorous, independent prohlem-solvers willing to rely on their own judgment into our discipline. Communicating with Students
As a neophyte teacher I had particular inspiration and example from three very different but great teachers. In 1948 my-first teaching assignment included one lecture section of a beginning chemistry course also taught by Hubert Alyea (Mr. Show) and Ross Baker (Mr. Tell). I played the sorcerer's apprentice to Alyea's demonstrations and marvelled at the effectiveness of Baker's high level literate English. His explanations were clear, and spiced with good humor and common sense analogy. I had to conclude from student response that the perils attendant on communication of literate teachers with students deficient in language (many spoke pidgin in Hawaii in 1948) are best overcome if the teacher uses the language clearly and correctly, and does not try to incorporate the often ambiguous and meaningless patois of the students. Words that are merely comfortable or familiar do not enhance communication of facts and ideas better than less familiar words that are used precisely and correctly. Alyea's lectures drew students from other classes with his dramatic demonstrations of chemical phenomena skillfully woven into the principles and models being presented to the students. I found I enjoyed demonstrating, and could live with failures or turn them to good learning advantage largelv through thk example set h i Alyea. I also learned from other Alvea observers that his techniques of showmanship were not for everyone to use-that theteacher must find-style and techniques with which he is comfortable, to he effective. A third teacher, Arthur Davidson2 at the University of Kansas, provided invaluable advice and example from his own exwerience on how to balance one's efforts a t research and I(.nrnin:: with those dewted to teaching students and pul)lic s s r r v w . He informally ad\,ised me ot manv of the ~ e r i l here discussed, a d set an vxarnpl(~fur pride in the profession u , ~ t h a lecture he devised fur an h(,nors
