DOUGLAS D. SMITH Guilford High Schwl Rockford, Illinois 61111
Using ERlC in Planning Chemistry Lessons
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Prepared by: Patricia E. Blosser Associate Director, User Seruices ERIC Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics and Enuironmental Education The Ohio State Uniuersitv Columbus, OH 43212 This article is an attempt to communicate to chemistry teachers some of the benefits they may obtain through the use of the ERIC materials when planning chemistry lessons. A general description of ERIC and its services will he provided. Specific examples of ERIC materials related to high school chemistry will he discussed. What Is ERIC?
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ERIC is the acronym for the Educational Resources Information Center, which is really not a center but is a nationwide network of 16 clearinghouses under the direction of the National Institute of Education (NIE). Each clearinghouse specializes in a different educational area. Each clearinghouse is charged with locating and obtaining documents relevant to its special educational area. Documents consist of teacher's guides, curriculum guides, current research reports, project and technical reports, papers presented a t professional meetings (such as those of the American Chemical Society) and other unpublished manuscripts, hooks, and professional journal articles. These materials are screened by each clearinghouse for relevance and interest to a wide ranee of educators and are then abstracted and indexed so the &terials can be put into the KHIC data base. Documents are described in a 200-word abstract and identified by approximately 10 terms chosen from the ERIC thesaurus as best describing the document's contents. This procedure of selecting appropriate terms is what is meant by "indexing." Journal articles are also abstracted hut this abstract is limited to 50 words. Indexing terms are also provided. Each month documents added to the ERIC data base are announced in Resources in Education (RIE). Journal articles are announced in Current Index to Journals in Education (CIJE), another monthly publication. CIJE covers more than 700 educational iournals. The contents bf both RIE and CIJE are arranged in basically the same manner. Materials submitted from each clearinghouse are grouped hy the clearinghouse prefix, in alphabetical order. The clearinghouse of particular interest to high school chemistry teachers is the ERIC Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Education, 1200 Chambers Road, Columbus, Ohio 43212. Its prefix is SE. This bimonthly feature presenba potpotvri of thoughtsand ~ueful items that are especially geared w high school chemistry roarhers, many of which you may find of immediate use in your classrooms. Summaries and abstracts of articles that have recently appeared in iournals from around the world are also included. Send your contributions to the feature editor. 864 / Journal of Chemical Education
Figure 1. Articles in Main Entry Seetion of the Cunent IndextoJoumb in Ed* cation appear as the followingsample: In addition to the section containing the abstracts of documents, RIE also contains a subject index which uses the descriptive thesaurus terms. This enables the reader to identifv anv documents in that issue related t o a particular topic & indexing term, such as laboratory procedures or science activities or laboratory safety, no matter which clearinghouse announced the document. Hy using the author index in an issue of R E ,the reader can identifv ----~ -, - anv documents written bv some suecific individual. By using the institution index, the reader can locate documents produced at a particular institution (college, university, publisher, incorporated group, etc.). Current Index to Journals in Education (CIJE) is organized into entries from the 16 clearing houses, a subject index, an author index, and a journal contents index. In the journal contents index, all of the articles from each journal are listed under the journal's title, (see Fig. 1). ~~~~A
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How Chemistry Teachers Can Use ERlC
Chemistry teachers can make use of the ERIC system in several wavs. Thev can scan the monthlv issue of RIE and CIJE for materials for interest in teaching methods and activities. If thev are interested in obtaininr a articular document, they can order i t from ERIC ~ o c u m e nReproduction t Services, P.O. Box 190, Arlington, VA 22210 in microfiche or in papercopy. Approximately 55% of the journal articles covered in CIJE are available from Universitv Microfilms International. For the remainder, the reader will h v e to locate a copy of the journal in some nearby library. ~~
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Computer Searches
Frequently a chemistry teacher's interests will best he met through a computer search of the ERIC data base. T o have a search run, the teacher should be familiar with the terms contained in the ERIC thesaurus in order t o identify those most appropriate for the search. However, if the person reouestine the search has a tooic that is sufficientlv well-defined. the searcher can provide the appropriate ERIC terms. Search s e ~ r e mav s .he -nrnvided hv an ERlC clenrinehouse. federal, state, or local government agencies, university libraries. and orivate comnanies. Charaes varv with the orpanization supplying the search service a s welias with numger of citations retrieved and type .. of output (document titles versus abstracts, for example). If a chemistry teacher wished to locate information about individualizing instrurtion in high school chemistry, the search might consist of such descriptive thesaurus terms as: chemistry, individual i n s t ~ c t i o nor individualized curriculum
Other ERIC Services
Figure 2. Diagram of a sample computer search Of the combined terms: chemistry, SecoMlary schoai science and science activities. or individualized instruction or individudized programs, and secondary school science. If one were to think of a Venn diagram, the search would retrieve those ERIC documents identified bv chemistrv. .. one.of the four terms linked bv "or" and secondary school scienre, so t hat any doruments related to teaching colleae - chemistry would he eliminated from the search. The followine is an examole of a comouter search which combined the terms. rhemisrry, secondary schuol science, and srience activities (see Fig. 2). The search system used was DIAI.OG. After scanning the ERIC data base, the search identified 5,678 entries for chemistry, 6.338 entries for secondary school rcienre, and 4,092 fur science activities. The intersection of these three terms contained 308 entries. Hecnuse DIALOG is an interactive svstem. it would be possible to add additional terms to deckase the number of documents in the intersect. Instead of doine this. the searcher asked the computer to print the titles of the'iirst 15 documents fuund in the intersect. When the printout was obtained, all 15 entries were from educatiunal journals as shown by the EJ desimation.'l'he article titlesand their E.1 numbersare listed
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In addition toobtaining materials for the ERICdata base, ERlC clearinghouses produce information analysis product& These may consist of state of the art reviews, reviews of research, activity booklets, etc. Some of these products are pmduced in cooperation with professional assocations related t o the clearinghouse's area of concern. The ERIC Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics and Environmental Education (ERIC-SMEAC) works cooperatively with a number of educational organizations. Chemistry tkachera should write to ERIC-SMEAC, at the address given earlier in this article, TO obtain a copy of the publications list and acopy of"How t o u s e EHIC."Also, they may want to receive a quarterly information bulletin produced by ERIC-SMEAC. All of these services are free for the asking. If people have questions which cannot be answered by reference to "How to Use ERIC" or to the publications list, they should write or telephone the appropriate clearinghouse. A person connected with user services will attempt to provide an answer or identify a source of help. There are ERIC collections (copies of RIE and CIJE and microfiche) in each of the 50 states as well as in United States territories and foreign countries. Frequently state departments of education can make ERIC materials available to classroom teachers. Help may be closer than you think!
W211621 Ids= from Everywhen: Odd Man Out--a C h e m i d Game W 210037 Smoking and Cigarette Smoke: an Innovative, Interdisciplinary, Chemieslly-Oriented Curriculum 207 025 Chemistry Nabs W 205 153 The Many U w of Methylem Blue El 2W 791 Chcmiatrv Notea EJ 203 695 Mest Tendmi=, J.110, and JellyTrh Strings W 2 W 231 The ChemistrydLstent Print% 61 198 578 View from my Clamroom: Effective Teaching for a Rural Environment EJ 194919 High School Forum FJ 193 173 Exploiting the Lichen Liaison W S 7 421
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FJ 187 3i1 High k h r n l F m m EJ 187320 Electropiating with S o h Energy
FJ 185 939
A ColorfuiExwriment The E J numbers decrease as one reads down the list. This occurs because the most recent entries, which have higher EJ numbers..are orinted firat because thev were added to the data . base most recently. Auser wanting to know what some of the early entries in the intersect were could have obtained this information by asking the computer to print the titles of entries 325350. A dirertory of search services providing computer acress to the ERIC data hase (RIE and CIJE) is available. free of charge, from the ERIC Processing and Reference Facility, 4833 Rugby Ave., Suite 303, Bethesda, MD 20014. A second publication which lists collections of ERIC RIE and CIJE and microfiche is also available, a t no cost, from the same address.
Volume 57, Number 9, September 1980 / 665
