THE READER'S GUIDE A S AN AID TO INSTRUCTION IN CHEMISTRY
The teacher of general chemistry often has difficulty in presenting the subject in such a manner that only a small percentage of the students will consider chemistry as another obstacle which must be removed before graduation. The instructor is usually concerned in keeping this percentage as low as possible but comparatively few are able to bring it down to zero. This is particularly true in classes containing students who take chemistry as a means of meeting the requirement in laboratory science necessary for graduation. Many of them find themselves in the chemistry classroom only because of conflicts which prevent them from taking courses which are more practical in their chosen field. The students in the average class in beginning chemistry may be divided into four classes. 1. Those taking the subject with the expectation of continuing in that field as their life work, i. e., chemists, chemical engineers, and chemical technologists. 2. Those taking the subject as a prerequisite for some other course of a scientific nature, e. g., dentistry, medicine, engineering, pharmacy, and home economics. 3. Those taking chemistry in order to meet the science requirements for graduation and to whom chemistry is more of a cultural or broadening subject than a practical subject, e. g., law, journalism, ministry, business administration, music, and secretarial stndents. 4. Those taking the course for very little reason other than that their schedule was so arranged that they had to take it or that the class they wanted to enter was too crowded to admit them. Such classes are typical of the smaller high schools, junior colleges, and liberal arts colleges. The larger colleges, universities, and high schools are able to section these students according to their particular courses of study. In this way students in one course are not given the same work in chemistry as those in another. Such divisions are impractical in the smaller schools but attempts have been made to separate the students according to ability or according to whether they expect to go on to college. The class made up of students with such varied interests offers a difficult problem to the instructor, especially when his own interests are somewhat one-sided. The North Central Association's requirements for teachers of science is fifteen hours of credit in science and five hours of credit in the subject that they expect to teach. This means that a person with less than a year's training in chemistry is qualified to teach it providing, of course, that he meets the other requirements in science, professional sub1943
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JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
Novsawsn, 1932
jects, and college graduation. Chemistry teachers with less than ten hours of credit in the subject are comparatively rare: however, a large percentage have not had training in the four major fields of chemistry and consequently do not emphasize these diierent fields in their course to the same degree. The chemistry instructor who is teaching in his major field has a great advantage over the type mentioned above, but he may also have his shortcomings. If he is a physical chemist he will probably consider the chapters on foods, vitamins, etc., as of minor importance and will stress the chapters on ionization, electrochemistry, equilibrium, atomic structure, and problems in general quite heavily. The physiological chemist will probably consider the chapters on foods, etc., as of major importance and will place less emphasis on the industrial or geological side of chemistry, while the inorganic chemist will stress the mineralogical and metallurgical side. In this connection there is one criticism which is sometimes made of inexperienced teachers, especially those who have recently completed some research work and who are still quite enthusiastic about their results. There is sometimes a tendency for these teachers to present general chemistry on the same level that their graduate work was presented to them with the result that they are using teaching methods four or five years in advance of their classes. Research chemists frequently have a tendency to stress the particular phase of the subject in which their interest lies although it may have very little place in a course in beginning chemistry. Both the individual student's ipterest and the instructor's interest are important factors in the success of a class in general chemistry. One of these factors must be varied in order to meet the needs of the situation and it falls to the instructor's lot to adjust himself or to give his students an opportunity to see where chemistry is related to, or will apply in, their fields of major interest. In order to determine the fields of interest of the students, a questionnaire may be filled out by each student at the beginning of the course, in which he is asked such questions as: Do you expect to go to college? If so, what course do you expect to take? If not, what do you expect to do as a means of earning a living? With this information on file it is a simple matter to pick out one or more articles for the student to read which will give him some information in the field of his major interest as well as show him the application of chemistry. In selecting these references, the author has made extensive use of the "Reader's Guide" in order to select articles which were much less technical in nature than those usually found in the chemical magazines. These references have been filed under a number of headings such as Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, and Home Economics, and a separate file has been made using as headings the different topics which are usually of general interest or which contain material of interest to the instructor in outlining his course of study. Each of the elements is filed under a separate heading
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THE READER'S GUIDE
1945
and such special topics as Transmutation, Artificial Diamonds, Vitamins, Enzymes, Cosmetics, Elements, Water, Sewage Disposal, Atmosphere, Fumigants, Cement, Insecticides, Alloys, Metallurgy, Metals, Glass, Radioactivity, Periodic Table, Paper, Meteorites, Explosives, Poisons, and Chemical Warfare are included. In addition to the references to the OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION the author has on file over six hundred JOURNAL references of a popular nature, the greater part of which have been taken from the "Reader's Guide." In addition to the value received in connection with the course in chemistry the student gets considerable training in the use of the library as a source of information. It has been said that an education is not altogether to give the student a vast amount of information but that it should also teach him where to get the information as needed. Another advantage in the use of the "Reader's Guide" is the large number of periodicals to which references have been made. Several magazines which are not considered as being scientific contain a number of excellent articles. Such magazines as Popular Science and the Scientific American are, of course, rich in material along any scientific line. While the school library will seldom have many of these periodicals on file, the public libraries of most cities have at least a few and these are often complete. The "Reader's Guide" is also considered as necessary equipment in the average city library.
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14. Economic Chemistry Publications of various industrial organizations,e. g., Vancoram C h e m i s t A d y s t , Foote-Prints, the International Nickel Company's pamphlets; trade journals, e. g., Iron Age (New York); business publications, e. g., Standard Statistics. In conclusion, a consideration of the above outline will show that the order of presentation is basically developmental. The first factor is the author, then his papers, next their abstracts followed by the grouping in annual surveys, and finally dictionaries, textbooks, etc. One or two topics, not fitting into this scheme, have been included because of the many requests from students.
