California Association of Chemistry Teachers
Glenn S. Dumke Chancellor The Colifornia State Colleges lnglewood
The Place of Science Education in The California State Colleges
W h e n a historian addresses a group of scholars who belong to another discipline, he is tempted to instruct the members of his audience concerning their proper place in t,he broad reach of history. I n this situation, however, such an approach would be redundant for it takes no h i i r i a n to see that science today has a greater impact than ever before on the life of man. Further, it is obvious to aU educated persons that the power of science in our culture and in our world can only increase. One indication of the pervasiveness of science is the way that it is l i k e d in titles and headings with other subjects of central concern. With growing frequency writers take up their pens to deal with such subjects as "science and human values" and speakers address themselves to topics dealmg with "science and the future." Further proof of the crucial position of science in our culture is provided by the concentrated and widespread attention given to the relationship of science and government. The increasing eminence of science has hit those of us in education with hard impact. The traditional problems of science education have revolved around such questions as, "Should a course in chemistry or physics be required of all students?" "How much laboratory work should be a part of general education?" and "To what extent should the format of science courses be modified to match the abilities of various types of students?" Today, such considerations are still pertinent but they are being overshadowed by other questions that go to the broad purpose of education itself. These are questions that seek to identify the essence and the ceutral objective of science instruction, and the relationships between courses in science and those in the humanities. This line of inquiry recognizes that the present abundance of knowledge and its contimuing proliferation make it impossible to cram into any student enough information to equip h i properly for his life work. There is a realization that information and knowledge alone will never he enough-there must be understanding; a degree of wisdom and judgment that will permit Presented as the Keynote Address before The California hsaeiation of Chemistry Teachers Fifth hilomar Conference, Monterey, Calif., August 1963.
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the student to deal with future knowledge that now cannot even be imagined-a way of thinking about science in relation to other disciplines, government, and human values. We are a t a cmcial point in time in relation to this matter of science and education. There is a pressing need to relate the particulars of science to the whole of education, the instruction of today with the problems of tomorrow. Further, no period in history has been more friendly to the idea of adjustment and change in education. With science so closely tied to virtually every aspect of life, with education the major vehicle for transmitting the knowledge and understand'mg of science, and with California a t the forefront in educational resources and in the encouragement of change, no group of individuals has a greater opportunity than we have to build a new approach to science education. By the same token there is no group of whom more should be expected. Science in California State Colleges
A science inventory of the California State Colleges discloses a mixed picture. One finds rather notable programs in individual colleges and other programs in obvious need of strengthening. I n some situations equipment is inadequate and fails to match professional achievement; in others instructional work has not yet reached the level of the facilities in which it is housed. Performance may fall short of aspiration or expectation. In sum, the present characteristics of science education in the state colleges are those typical of a growing system. The current condition may be attributed in part to an evolution in concepts concerning the educational role of the state colleges. For example, what was once considered adequate instruction in chemistry for a college whose major function was the preparation of elementary and secondary teachers may not be adequate for a college whose mission still includes teacher preparation as a most important and continuing responsibility but whose task has broadened to a wide range of offerings with a truly multipurpose objective. The earlier pattern most certainly is inadequate for a college that desires to do its share in producing scientists and engineers. Furthermore, the preparation of teachers itself
has undergone rigorous rethinking, so that now the teacher of science must master a much more complex discipline than he faced in previous years. Another major factor in our present situation is a degree of uncertainty about the role of science and scientific research in our academic program. I have made reference to certain new questions to which cnrriculnm planners must address themselves. Offerings in science must be designed in relation to and balanced with the offerings in other fields, and this is a continuous process. On another level there are important questions, and thus some uncertainty, about the science programs of the state colleges in relation to those of the other segments of higher education, the junior colleges and the University of Californh. This, of course, is a proper subject of inquiry for the Coord i t i n g Council for Higher Education. Finally, there are divergent views on the subject of state supported faculty research within the state colleges. We have one view and the State Legislature has another, but we intend to present our case again to the Legislature, supported as it is by the Coordinating Council and the other segments of higher education. The one thing we are sure of is that science is an important area in the state college, and it is destined to grow. What are the statistics on science education in the state colleges? First of all, approximately 18y0 of total student classroom and laboratory hours was spent in science and mathematics courses in 1962. Approximately 7y0 of all graduates received degrees in the sciences or mathematics, another 7y0 in engineering. Each college, as a minimum, offers undergraduate majors in chemistry, physics, biology, and mathematics, ns well as instruction in botany, geology, and zoology. In addition, all but the newest institutions provide majors and instruction in a variety of other fields; all told, more than 20 different science majors are available and half that number of Master's degrees. In the fall of 1962 we had 1049 students majoring in chemistry and 59 more working for Master's degrees in that field. Chemistry majors constituted l.lyoof our total enrollment-nearly half of 1% of our total Master's degree candidates. The largest chemistry programs are a t San Diego, San Jose, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Fresno, and Sacramento state colleges in order of size. The science instruction responsibilities of the state colleges may be grouped under three principal headings: first, the preparation of professional scientists; second the preparation of teachers; and third, science instruction as a part of the general education core involving all students. The chemistry program a t San Diego State College may be cited as an example of good quality work in the preparation of professional scientists. Graduates of this program are located in key administrative and research posts in industry. Doctoral degrees have been attained by a sizeable number of graduates. The Department of Chemistry a t San Diego has 20 faculty members. They are well prepared-each man with a doctorate, all but one with PhD's in chemistry. During the last three years the department has been awarded research grants with a total value of almost $700,000. Five of these grants came from the NSF, six from the NIH, and two from the AEC. The capabilities of this staff are such that most of the courses required for a
doctoral program in chemistry can now be offered. As we move with the University of California into the development of joint doctorates it is probable that Chemistry a t San lXego will be one of our first nominations. When we turn to our second responsibility in science education, the training of teachers, we see a process of adjustment under way. This is caused in part by the new approach inherent in the Fisher Bill' and in part by the accelerating proliferation of scientilic knowledge. The effective blending and balancing of science and humanities has special significance in the preparation of teachers. The same goal applies to the general education program involving all students. In July 1962, the Trustees of the State Colleges adopted the following statement of purpose: The California State Colleges are multipurpose iastitutions using the basic disciplines of the liberal arts and sciences as the foundation for all aspects of their eduestional programs. .
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In this way we have assigned ourselves the task of determining and designing a proper foundation of liberal arts and sciences. The present general education requirement is 45 units, including nine units in natural science with work in both physical science and biological science required as a part of this. However, the scope and composition of general education is receiving additional attention, and will he one of the first subjects to be considered by the recently formed statewide Academic Senate. Sciences and Humanities
We have said that it is our goal to achieve a balance and a blend between the science and nonscience fields within the academic programs of the California State Colleges. Yon will recognize this as a task of no mean size, for the gulf between the sciences and the hnmanities, between scientists and the others, is a problem for all of society; it is not confined to any single campus or group of campuses. I am sure yon are familiar with the thesis advanced by C. P. Snow in his provocative book "The TWOCnltures" (I). It deserves thoughtful readmg by allscientist and humanist alike.= Regardless of our opinions about Snow's analysis of the reasons for or the depth of the schism between the cultures, we must endorse his conclusion that they can be brought back together through a new approach to education. Thus, through communication they can be made to complement and challenge one another, to the benefit of the whole society. A few years ago the New York Times Magazine carried a symposium, featuring six eminent American scientists (3). After reading this article, Howard Mnmford Jones of Yale, an outstanding humanist who is known as a friend and supporter of science and scientists, wrote the following letter to the Times (3): I read with growing wonder the composite article entitled "Science Looks at Life in 2057 A.D." Nothing so indicates the narrowness of scientific outlook among experts. The only conceivahle future is for the regulation of offspring, interplanetary 'Adopted by the California State Legislature in 1961, this legislation substantially increases the amount of study which the student must devote to the subject matter he will later teach. 37,609 (1960). 'EDITOR'S NOTE: See THIS JOWNAL, Volume 4 1, Number 6, June 1964
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space travel, the control of physical power, the eating of vegetable steaks, artificial photosynthesis, and advanced psychology based unon machines. T h n t art, that 1,LilusopLy, tint n l i ~ m ~1.81 , the whole vast, rid) hintoriral outlmk and nmturity have a m e determining part in civilization a hundred years hence seems to occur to none of your distinguished contributors. Man reared from a tesbtube baby to machine-conditioned psychology and eating vegetable steaks seems scarcely worth sending to Mars if that is the best he can do with himself.
Glenn Seahorg (6) supports this view and also advances a parallel idea. He suggests that the history department include in its ranks one or two men with a special knowledge of and interest in science. A similar arrangement, he feels, would be beneficial in the departments of political science, philosophy, and sociology.
Margaret Mead (4), the anthropologist, declares that nonscientists
Are there ways to bridge the gulf? Perhaps so. Let me suggest a few ideas. As a historian I have felt for a long time that science education suffers because it lacks what might be called a proper merchandising program. By this I mean that you have important products available that many of your customers do not know exist. It is unfortunate, for instance, that a college without a school of engineering is ordinarily considered to have no competence in science. These misconceptions should be corrected, and other items should be taken off the back shelf and displayed in the front window so that even those persons who are passing by the store will see them. Some of the items to which I refer are scientific concepts that are common to all knowledge and learning. They include:
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.have come to feel that science is something different and alien, a discipline they neither can nor care to understand. today there is hardly any aense of community between professional scientists and educated hymen. . . We are, in frtct, in danger of developing--as other civilizations before us have developed-pecial esoteric groups who can communicate only with each other and who can accept as neophytes and apprentices only those individudls whose intellectual abilities, temperamental bents and motivations are like our Own.
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She believes that the existing educational gulf between science and the liberal arts may be traced to the day that high schools shifted from educating a small selected group of college-bound students to the present undertaking of education of the mass. The elective system, which grew out of this shift, encouraged students to take only those subjects which they like or are "good at." In her view scientific developments are now occurring so fast that it appears hopeless for scientists to try to communicate them to nonscientific peers. Thus the gap grows wider. Further, young scientists of today often find it hard to communicate with scientists of an earlier vintage because of the highly specialized nature of the new scientific language and symbols. As a consequence some public school science teachers, trained in an outdated discipline, become steadily more isolated and their teaching more static. A major responsibility of state colleges is to correct this growing problem. Dr. Mead emphasizes that we must not sacrifice the specialized communication that is so essential to rapid scientific development. However, we must fmd educa tional and communication devices which will protect our society and all the intellectual disciplmes within it from the schismatic effects of too great a separation of thought patterns between specialized practitioners and those who must maintain a level of general understanding in a particular field. Brand Blanshard (5), the Yale philosopher, is also quite critical of science education. He believes that too many students are bored and alienated by science instruction and thus avoid science as a vocation. A+ cording to Blanshard, the chief mistake made by scientists is that in attempting to teach students to think with the proper degree of rigor and precision and to master the scientific method, they fill their courses with mounds of detail and what appears to be a rather pointless manipulation of s's and y's. Blanshard also believes that science for the liberal arts major must he approached on a somewhat d i e r e n t basis than science for scientists. This does not mean necessarily a course with lower standards but rather that the teachers of this type of course should also be nhiloso~hersand humanists in the sense that thev feel in their
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Journal of Chemical Education
Bridging the Gulf Between Science and the Liberal Arts
The goal of increasing howledge The search for truth Creativity The scientific method The concept of probability The role of the individual
I believe that a better understanding of the commonality of these ideas would go a long way toward bridging the gulf between science and the liberal arts. I believe that the scientific scholars and the other scholars have a great deal more in common than is ordinarily realized and I am equally certain that there are methods and values that each may borrow from the other, to the advantage of all education. J. Bronowski (7), in his little book, "Science and Human Values," states the case this way: The society of scientists is simple because it has a directing purpose: to explore the truth. Nevertheless, it has to solve the problem of every society, which is to find a compromise between man and men. It must encourage the single scientist to be independent, and the body of scientists to be tolerant. From these basic conditions, which form the prime values, there follow^ step by step the spectrum of values: diasent, freedom of thought and speech, justice, honor, human dignity, and self respect.
Many people believe that the cause of the world's major problems is that human values have been unable to harness and control science. It may he that a more accurate explanation is that certain of these values of science have not been incorporated into man's general system of values. Science Education in the State Colleges
Our approach to this, while involving a proper amount of research, will emphasize teaching. Louis Heilbron, who s e n d with great distinction as Chairman of the State College Board of Trustees during the first two years of that organization's life, recently put thematter this way: We will not merelv offer curriculum-this is done in mmv placea-we will nor jusr conduct claesca-we will 8 e ~ ktr, muke all of our collegcs grrnt l w l h ~ ginstitutionn of hicler l ~ a m i n &
I n line with thi view we are planning to develop a special seminar in instructional techniques for doctoral candidates who aim a t careers in college teaching. It is true that techniques have sometimes been overemphasized in the preparation of elementary and secondary teachers, but it is also true that they are highly necessary in appropriate amount, and furthermore, they have been virtually ignored a t the college level. Another plan we are considering is the establiihment a t one of our colleges of a center devoted to the study of science teaching a t the secondary level. California teachers, particularly in chemistry, have given national leadership in their profession. A corollary educational asset is California's many governmental and nongovernmental science organizations. If it is found that we can perform a helpful role in coordinating the use of these resources and in such matters as the development of teaching materials, the study of instructional approaches, and the publicizing of effective teaching methods, we would plan to launch this center. As a nation we are faced with the necessity of making good use of the keen minds among our youth. A proper portion of those keen minds must be attracted to the study of science and the education of these persons must equip them to keep pace with future developments
and relate their work to the broader society. I n all of this the values of science have an important part. I congratulate you on your own mastery of these values, and I hope all of you will devote serious thought not only to progress in your own discipline, but also to the relationship of that discipline to all of higher education, so that the importance of what you are doing will never be lessened by problems of communication and relationship. Literature Cited
(1) SNOW,C. P., "The TWO Cultures," Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1960. (2) . . "Science Looks at Life in 2057 A.D.," New York TimesMagasine, December 8, 1957. H. M., letter to the editor, New York Times Magazine, (3) JONES, December 29, 1957. (4) MEAD,M., in BLANSHARD, B., Editor, "Education in the Age of Science," Basic Books, Inc., New York, 1959, pp. 239-41. (5) BLANSHAXD, B., Editor, "Education in the Age of Science," Basic Boob, Inc., New York, 1959, introduction. (6) SEIIBORG, G . T., "Education for a Democratic-ScientiJic Society," a speech delivered at the 9lst Convoestion of the University of the State of New York, Albany, New York, October 26, 1962. (7) B n o ~ o w s ~J.,~ , "Science and Human Values," Julian Messner, Inc., New York, 1956, pp. 87-8.
Volume 41, Number 6, June 1964
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