Career Opportunities
Teachers Can Awaken Joy in Knowledge Learning helps individuals meet personal and social needs
EDWARD C. FULLER, Chairman, Department of Chemistry, Beloit College, Beloit, Wis.
Of studie toke he most cure and hede. Not a word spake he more than toas nede; And that teas said in forme and reverence, And short and quike, and fid of high sentence. Souning in moral vertue teas his speche, And gladly wolde he leme, and gladly teche. Chaucer's lines of six centuries ago about the Canterbury pilgrim known as the Clerke of Oxenforde still summarize succinctly the virtues of the teacher. If you have found great satisfactions in the chemistry classroom and laboratory, in the library and in bull sessions discussing chemistry with your fellow students—if you have gladly learned, you may well gladly teach. Be warned, as you read this article, that you will find no cold, objective appraisal of the teaching profession here but a warmly biased belief that to teach chemistry is the most exciting and rewarding career that any well-trained chemist can undertake. In our country there are about 200 universities granting the Ph.D. in chemistry, 1500 four-year undergraduate colleges, 700 junior colleges, and several thousand high schools. We suffer from a shortage of well-qualified chemistry teachers at all levels and newly developing countries around the world are calling for our help. Technology based on applications of science to the world's work has transformed our lives more rapidly and more radically in the past 20 years than during any other such span of time in history. We know enough now to be able to wipe out the specter of starvation that has haunted the human race from time immemorial if only we can find the teachers to spread this knowledge. What can be more challenging today than to teach chemistry—to let youth know what our science can do to liberate the body, mind, and spirit of mankind? What can be more rewarding than to see the light break through a student's clouded face when you have helped him to catch a concept which has previously eluded his best efforts to grasp? In the words of Albert Einstein "It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge/' What can be more satisfying to you when you look back on your life's work than to contemplate the achievements of your intellectual offspring? Whether you teach children, high school youth, or young men and women in college and university, you 30A
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reap the twin rewards of meeting social needs and of helping individuals to grow in stature as human beings. To be a good teacher you need both a thorough knowledge of chemistry and skill in the art of illuminating the minds of others by the light of your own. If you know a great deal but cannot sense the barriers to understanding in the thinking of your students, you cannot be a good teacher. Yet, no matter how skilled you may be in sensing students' needs, you can illuminate only that knowledge which you yourself possess. The ratio of importance between knowledge and skill in teaching increases from the kindergarten through the graduate school. The teacher of young children need not know science in great depth but must be highly skilled in seeing the world as children see it. The director of doctoral research must have a firm grasp of a great body of knowledge but need not be so skilled in clarifying this knowledge for his graduate students. The crux of the art of teaching is to sense the most stimulating balance between interpreting knowledge for the student and leading him to think his own way through a difficulty. Teaching in a College or University If you want to teach college students you should plan to take a Ph.D. in chemistry, for you will need a broad and deep preparation. The toughest assignment in college teaching is the first course, because beginning students have such diversity in background and interest. The greatest challenge to the teacher here is to present his subject so that it is a logical extension of what his students have already learned in high school and at the same time opens new vistas on chemistry as a whole. To challenge the bright students without swamping the average ones or hopelessly frightening poor students calls for mastery of subject matter and sensitivity to individual reactions. The greatest achievement of the teacher in the beginning course is keeping his students intellectually involved while laying foundations for further study in science. In selecting the subject matter for your courses, you must bear in mind the undergraduate curriculum as a whole. Do your students have the background they need in mathematics and physics as well as in chemistry in order to
grapple successfully with the material you have chosen? How does this subject matter relate to that in previous courses and how will it prepare students for subsequent courses? Because students with a bachelor's degree may embark on careers in industrial and government laboratories or pursue graduate studies in a number of different chemical specialties, the undergraduate curriculum needs to be broad rather than specialized. Total knowledge in chemistry is doubling every 10 or 12 years so you must continually change course content to keep up with modern developments. Because the total time available to a student for his studies is not expansible you are dealing with a constant volume situation. Whenever you add something new, you must remove something old or the pressure will become intolerable. Keeping up with new developments in laboratory techniques is very important. One of the toughest jobs we face today is learning how to teach chemistry effectively to students who are majoring in disciplines other than the natural sciences. The college students of today will be the intellectual leaders of tomorrow and they must know about the tremendous roles science and technology are playing in determining the quality of our daily lives. Carefully prepared examinations will tell both you and your students how fruitful the teacher-learner relationship has been. Setting goals too high will result in discouragement for both; expecting too little will debase the sense of accomplishment by either. The examinations developed by the ACS Division of Chemical Education, with their national norms for scores, can provide a measuring stick to compare your students' achievement with that of many others. Though most of us find giving examinations and grading papers the least rewarding of our teaching activities, we all recognize the need for keeping our students fully informed about how they are progressing. The number of junior colleges is increasing so fast that the output of persons with a Ph.D. in chemistry cannot possibly supply their needs for teachers. So if you have a bachelor's or master's degree and feel that you cannot go on for a doctorate, you may find an attractive teaching position in a growing two-year college. The junior college teacher must plan his courses not only to prepare some of his students for upper-level courses in four-year colleges but must also provide for the needs of his students whose formal education will end after two years in college.
Teaching in High School and Elementary
broaden your knowledge of natural science by studying elementary biology and geology as well as to spend considerable time studying child psychology and development. Your background in mathematics and physics is likely to be quite adequate. In the years ahead it is probable that elementary school systems will be employing more and more special supervisers to improve science teaching. Such a position will make good use of a broad background in science. Professional Growth and
Development
No matter whether you teach simple science to elementary school children or the most recondite abstractions to postdoctoral fellows, you must keep in close touch with other workers in your field. Membership in professional groups of teachers is essential for those whose principal efforts are directed to the transmission of knowledge. Affiliation with groups of researchers is necessary for those whose efforts are concentrated on the discovery of new knowledge. College teachers need to keep live contacts with both types of groups. The college teacher needs also to cultivate contacts with high school teachers so he will know about new developments in the preparation of the students coming to him. He can also serve his students better if he is in touch with teachers in the graduate schools so he can lay the most useful groundwork for his programs of graduate study. One of the best ways for a college teacher to keep up to date in some field of chemistry is to pursue a modest program of research. If he can involve his students in this work, so much the better. The primary goal is not the publication of scientific papers but the stimulation arising from investigating the unknown. A student who works on a research project which excites his teacher receives a strong stimulus toward original investigation. The National Science Foundation, the ACS Petroleum Research Fund, the Atomic Energy Commission, the National Institutes of Health, and Research Corporation are all interested in financing undergraduate research, so if you have a real drive toward this kind of activity you need not lack funds. You can get financial support not only for purchasing equipment and chemicals but also for hiring students as research assistants and for increasing your personal income when doing research during a term when you are not occupied with full-time teaching.
School
If you have a bachelor's degree with a solid major in chemistry, your background for teaching chemistry in high school is excellent. To qualify for a permanent teacher's certificate you will need to take a few courses dealing with some of the social and philosophical aspects of education, psychology and student guidance, some study of teaching methods, and do practice teaching under the supervision of an experienced secondary school teacher. There are a number of colleges and universities which offer a program leading to an M.A. in teaching which prepares a student with a bachelor's degree in chemistry to qualify for a teaching certificate in about a year. If you find continuing satisfactions in teaching high school chemistry, you will probably want to study for a master's degree in chemistry in order to broaden and deepen—as well as to bring up to date—your knowledge of our rapidly growing science. To teach in the elementary schools you will need to
Dr. Edward C. Fuller, chairman of the department of chemistry at Beloit College, is a native of Helena, Mont. He received a B.S. in chemistry and chemical engineering from Montana State College and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Columbia. Before joining the Beloit staff in 1953, Dr. Fuller taught at Montana State, Columbia, Bard College, and Champlain College. He was president of Bard College for four years, but resigned that position to return to teaching. Dr. Fuller has served as chairman of the ACS Division of Chemical Education, and is also a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Association of University Professors, and Sigma Xi. MAY
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