Chemistry Everyday for Everyone
Experience in Chemical Education in Russia: How to Attract the Young Generation to Chemistry under Conditions of “Chemophobia” S. S. Berdonosov and N. E. Kuzmenko Department of Chemistry, Moscow State University, Lenin Hills, 119899, Moscow, Russia B. I. Kharisov* Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, San Nicolás de los Garza, N.L., A.P.18-F, C.P. 66450, México; *
[email protected] In Russia, as in many other countries, the phenomenon of “chemophobia” has been prevalent during the last 20–30 years. Everything related to chemistry and chemical industry is torn away: the customers do not like any food containing “chemicals”; cosmetic goods with “artificial” substances often have no success in sales; “synthetic” fabric clothes are out of the question. Many people refuse the use of “chemical” medicines and prefer to undergo a cure by plants and preparations obtained from various animals or to use other methods of “people’s medicine”. Moreover, there are a lot of TV conferences and speeches where everything “chemical” is accused without discrimination. The numerous environmental protection movements consider the chemical industry and research laboratories as the principal source of contamination of the environment. Under these conditions, the serious problem appears, first of all, for the chemical departments of universities, chemical colleges, and institutions: the number of secondary school graduates who would like to obtain a more profound special chemical education is decreasing. According to the Russian laws, all the school students should study the basic course of chemistry during four years. However, not all school graduates receive even such elementary chemical education. In some cases (for instance, in the so-called “humanitarian” schools), chemistry is completely excluded from the obligatory courses. Meanwhile, it is clear that normal development of society is impossible without development of chemistry, as well as without arrival of new young generations in the chemical labs and industry. Undoubtedly, elementary introduction to chemistry is useful for everyone. Present Problems of Russian High School During the last decade, the subjective situation in Russia also had a negative influence on the interest in chemistry. Many research centers no longer exist; others work without state financial support. The average age of scientific workers in the research centers is often more than 50 years. Salaries of professors and researchers are extremely low: the professor’s (Dr. Hab.) income is about $100–200 U.S. monthly, and the income of a young researcher is far less. Moreover, a lot of specialists in the age range of 25–35 years have relocated to the Western countries or found contracts in the “third world”. For instance, the Mexican universities and the CONACyT (Mexican “National Council for Science and Technology”) offer very good and stable conditions for foreign
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specialists with a Ph.D. or an equivalent degree; such conditions are very attractive in comparison with the research salaries in Russia. Meanwhile, Russia and the former USSR have always had well-known chemical research and industrial centers and schools. Ending their existence, as well as slowing down their development, could have a negative impact on the future of Russia. Strong and large-scale Russian chemical centers, such as the Department of Chemistry of the Moscow State University (DC), undergo the same problems with the arrival of young generations. More than 2000 professors and researchers work there; there are more than 1000 students in all 10 semesters. About 100 graduates continue their education as postgraduate students in order to obtain the degree of “Candidate of Chemical Sciences” (an equivalent of Ph.D.). A peculiarity of chemical education in Russian universities is as follows: school graduates who would like to become university students must succeed in a very competitive test (2–4 exams). The young people obtaining the best results become students. It is clear that the higher the level of competition, the higher should be the resulting score for the winner. The level of the professors’ performance depends on the level of the intellectual development of students: students’ poor preparation and low level of knowledge decreases the teaching performance sharply, doesn’t it? Accordingly, the DC administration and staff of professors dedicate enormous effort to attracting young talented people to become DC students. Evidently, these efforts should be widely oriented. The DC puts its sights on youth not only from Moscow and the surrounding region, but from practically all Russia and some post-Soviet countries with a considerable Russian-speaking population, where a degree from the Moscow State University is still prestigious. What are the main directions of these activities? The work to be done to attract young people to chemistry is very diverse. The activities include publication of popular articles dealing with recent achievements in chemistry in general, and those of the DC researchers in particular, also the preparation of chemical manuals, TV and radio reports, etc. Conferences of the DC professors in the schools of Moscow and other cities are traditional. The following two traditional methods of work with young people are particularly effective: organizing chemical olympiads of school students and forming special groups of school graduates with intensive chemical preparation.
Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 76 No. 8 August 1999 • JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu
Chemistry Everyday for Everyone
Chemical Olympiads The chemical olympiads in Moscow (competitions among school students of 15–17 years) have an almost 50year history. Every student may attempt to solve a problem (pure chemical or calculation). At present, the whole system is oriented toward how to carry out a chemical olympiad for school students. This system is based on olympiads of different levels (depending on the complexity of stated problems and the character of the participants). Thus, the first level is the chemical olympiad in the school to which the student belongs. Then, the city’s district level is the next step in Moscow, in which the students from scores of school districts take part, and the third level is in the scale of the entire city. The winners of each level are invited to participate in a olympiad of a higher level. However, every student who does not take part in the olympiad of an intermediate level (at a school or in a district) can participate in the olympiad of the next level (in the limits of the city’s olympiad). In contrast to the school and district olympiads, which include only theoretical problems in chemistry, the Moscow city’s olympiad (usually 500–700 students take part in it) is carried out in two stages. The first step is theoretical (calculation problems and theoretical questions). The best students at this stage take part in the second experimental round where they should carry out a small chemical experiment during four hours. Actually, chemical labs at Moscow schools are very poor owing to lack of financial resources for purchasing basic chemicals and equipment, and, consequently, not so much attention is paid to experiments during chemistry lessons. Therefore, the final job in the chemical labs is like a reward for the participants of the second round after their knowledge has been demonstrated at the previous stages of the competition, and it also acts as an effective stimulus to attract young people to chemistry. The team formed from the winners of the Moscow chemical olympiad takes part in the all-Russian chemical olympiad (approximately 150 students from all regions of Russia). Since disintegration of the USSR, one more level of school chemical olympiads has developed: the Mendeleev chemical olympiad, in which the best students from almost all post-soviet countries can participate. Recently, the Soros chemical olympiad was added to the above competitions. G. Soros has sponsored such events, and the idea belongs to Prof. V. Soipher. The Soros chemical olympiad is also carried out in a series of steps; about ten thousand students from all Russian regions take part in its first round. Finally, the best four students—winners of the Russian chemical olympiads—take part in the International Chemical Olympiad organized by the IUPAC. The olympiad winners of all levels receive, of course, prizes; the city’s winners and the higher levels receive the right to be registered as students of the DC or other chemical institutions without previous examination. Additionally, the winners of Soros olympiads receive a stipend from the Soros foundation during their first year at the university. The high number of participants (about ten thousand students annually) attests to the popularity of the chemical olympiads. Of course, it is necessary to take into consideration that sometimes a student takes part in an olympiad not according to his (her) own choice, but under definite pressure from a teacher-chemist, because of the prestige for a teacher
who has a number of student-winners. However, after the first participation in the olympiad, many students wish to participate again in such events. The “olympiad-mania” is even typical for some of them, when all their education interests are directed to honest and successful participation in chemical competitions. Numerous editions of the programs of the previous chemical olympiads are very popular among the students and their school teachers. The manuals and books containing the problems and methods for their solution are published in thousands of copies annually. It is necessary to mention that qualified school teachers and university professors take part in the preparation of this literature. They analyze in detail possible solutions of the problems and control, first, the level of the problems offered (which should correspond to the level of chemical knowledge of the youth) and, second, the originality of the material which should be new and interesting to students. Special Chemical Groups The second and most effective way to attract youth to chemistry is through organization of the special “chemical” groups in some Moscow schools for students in their last two school years (students 15–17 years old), where chemistry is studied more intensively. The DC has been in charge of such groups in Moscow School No. 171 since 1974. Hundreds of graduates have received their education in this school; about 500 of them have become DC students. The teaching of chemistry in these groups is carried out not by school teachers, but by associate professors (Ph.D.) of the DC according to the special program authorized by the Scientific Council of DC. Seven “educational hours” (45 min each one) are spent weekly to study chemistry, including 2.5 hours for lectures, 2.5 hours for seminars, and 2 hours for experimental work in the DC chemical labs (in the Chairs of Inorganic, Organic, and Analytical Chemistry). Moreover, the students also study physics, mathematics, and biology more intensively than at regular schools. Any student from a Moscow school district can be accepted to these chemical groups. It is necessary that he (she) has minimum knowledge in chemistry and, of course, interest to learn. Naturally, it is impossible to predict precisely at the age of 14–16 years who will achieve considerable success in chemistry in the future. So, the acceptance “filter” of the entrance exams has sufficiently broad “pores” and allows the acceptance of students with very different chemical interests. Some of them would like to perform synthetics experimentation, others would like to be chemist-theoreticians or managers for sales of chemicals, etc. One of the principal objectives of these chemical groups is to give all students the feel that they can achieve high success if they have persistence and diligence. Practically every student could win in a competition organized by professors during two years of education in these groups. It could be a competition either on the best solution of control problems or with the objective to create an original problem related to chemistry at least indirectly. For example, “How to determine quickly in restaurant conditions, which of three glasses with tea contains sugar?” Since it is impossible to taste tea (this is not hygienic), a student should pay attention that the refraction index of the solution is considerably higher in the tea containing sugar.
JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu • Vol. 76 No. 8 August 1999 • Journal of Chemical Education
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In the Classroom
The following themes have been offered for independent preparation of a paper by students: “What will be changed in the world, if an electron mass increases by 100 times?”, “How to purify a natural gas from the H2S impurity by the most simple way?”, etc. Every student should prepare his (her) own report on the chemistry of transition metals and present it as a lecture. One of the authors of this article graduated from these chemical groups at School No. 171 in 1981 and can confirm that the education there “sucks up” school students into chemistry, thus leading them to a future profession. In addition to these daily chemical groups (which function at the same time as usual schools), the DC organized the evening classes (“School of Young Chemist”, “SYC”) 30 years ago. The classes are carried out for the students of each level (9, 10, and 11 school years) in the DC two times weekly in the evening (3–4 “academic hours” every time. The main attention is given to deep study of the background of chemistry and experimental work. The program and manuals are practically the same as at School No. 171). Additionally, deep study of physics and mathematics is offered for the 11th school year students. Since initiation of SYC, about 700 students have graduated and become students of the DC and other Moscow chemical institutions. It is important to mention that all cycles of education in both School No. 171 and SYC are absolutely free of charge. Moreover, having in mind that the income of the parents of some pupils is sometimes very low, the DC and some philanthropy foundations (such as, for example, the Moscow foundation “Philanthropy”) support the best students and pay them small stipends or prizes for their victories in competitions.
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The main expenditures of the DC are related to support of laboratory works and equal $40-50 U.S. per student during all education cycles. The professors of the DC have prepared a lot of manuals for the chemical education in the chemical groups (see, for instance, the most recent issues [1–3]). This literature is widely used not only by the students mentioned here, but also in other Russian schools. The accumulated experience is used for preparation of the programs of “unremitting chemical education”. Conclusions All this systematic work with young generations allows the DC to support a sufficiently high interest in chemistry among a part of the Russian youth. The rate of competition between newcomers of the DC, which dropped to a minimum in 1991–1992, is now gradually increasing. Conducting competitive entrance exams at the most convenient time contributes to it. As a result, the 3 persons/place rate was registered in 1997 (in comparison: 4–5 in 1981–86; about 1 in 1991–1992). It ensures admittance of students with good intellectual capabilities and profound interest in chemistry. Literature Cited 1. Berdonosov, S. S.; Zhirov, A. I. Handbook of School Student on Inorganic Chemistry. Akvarium: Moscow, 1997. 2. Berdonosov, S. S. Handbook of School Student on General Chemistry; Akvarium: Moscow, 1997. 3. Kazennova, N. B. Handbook of School Student on Organic Chemistry. Akvarium: Moscow, 1997.
Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 76 No. 8 August 1999 • JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu
