Some Thoughts Concerning the 10th international Conference on Chemical Education To the Editor:
I t is sometimes ueful to look through a different lens. Meetines in the same discinline or field of - of nrofessionals . science are extraordinarily important because of the positive consequences derived from either the oral or written exchange of experiences, or from the contents of the reports of research activities. The latter constitute, in themselves, indisputable witnesses of the present, while a t the same time they shed light on the future trends in their particular sphere of action. The search for truth demands objectivity in one's analyses and knowledge. Chemistry, like all science, presents a number of questions. These unsolved problems encourage the nractitioners of chemistrv t o look for methods and vrocedures that may enable t6em t o explain the sources bf the manv nhenomena that are observed dailv. .. but which are not accounted for. This search has brought about rapid advances in chemistry as a whole, as well as in its various specialized areas. Knowledge increases and questions are clarified. New knowledge, findings, and explanations reflect upon under~ t a n a i n gand research in other sciences. Exchanges become increasinelv nroductive. and the interweavine of knowledee " leads us iba better undkrstanding of scienre yn general. The 10th Conference on Chemical Education will be held in Ontario, Canada, from the 20th to the 25th of August 1989. As expected, knowledgeable professionals who teach chemistry and come from distant places will gather. The conference will nrovide a new o~nortunitvto remove frontiers, hanners, races, religions andideologi& that, one way or another, make it difficult to achieve understandina.amonamen. In fact, the Conference will be a brotherly meeting with a communion of minds havine a common link: t o share the knowledge of current or past scientists: scientists who have succeeded in finding reproducible answers to varied and important chemical phenomena, which may either be used for the benefit of humankind or may need to be avoided due t o their direct or indirect negative effects. All this under the permanent challenge that characterizes teaching: to impart knowledge in an entertaining objective and critical way. These extremelv vositive features notwithstandine, meetings of specialistsh&e always amazed me: positivelKon the one hand, because of the amount of knowledge Dresented and the depth with which each topic is handled, thus giving evidence of the true picture of the educational process in the sciences, and because these contributions rekainly constitute the link between the present and the future; and neyativelv. on the other hand. because all the narticioants belone t o t & same field or discipline. This parkality,'thougb log; cal. makes me wonder whether i t would be unreasonable. inadequate, or revolutionary to look a t the occupation and the nroiections of cbemistrv throueh a different lens. chemistry is not an isolated science. On the contrary, it calls on and contributes to many other fields of knowledge, it is part of our daily life, and some of its applications have contributed t o our well-being. On the other hand, it is taught mostly to young people, who are considered by experts as being highly sensitive t o social changes and regimes and to political and religious beliefs. If we accept this premise, i t becomes clear that, the greater the knowledge that a teacher 532
Journal of Chemical Education
of chemistry has of youth, the better will be his position to teach what he wants to teach in a more effective, entertaining, and clear way. The above reasons lead me to propose the participation in these kinds of events of professionals in other fields, such as psychologists, anthropologists, sociologists, theologians, counsellors. and others. with the sole vurvose of nrovidiue information, through their own lenses, about thk prese; generations in terms of their behavior and ex~ectationstoday and in the near future. I amconvinced thaithecontributionsof such ~rofessionalswould be significant, pivina rise to a curve which, translated into a ma
