GENERAL CHEMISTRY1 CARL R. MELOY University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois
ATA meeting of the General Chemistry Subcommittee
of the Committee on Examinations and Tests of the American Chemical Society, held in Atlantic City in September, 1952, it was decided that a survey of opinions of recent users of the general chemistry test would be helpful in formulating future examinations. Accordingly, with the help of Dr. T. A. Ashford, chairman of the committee, Dr. C. E. Ronneberg, chairman of the subcommittee, and Dr. Donald Wright, who had served as acting chairman of the subcommittee, a questionnaire mas prepared and distributed to 150 institutions which had made use of the general chemistry test in the past year or two. These institutions represented a cross section of colleges and universities in the United States. Included were junior colleges, liberal arts colleges, state teachers' colleges, and private and state universities. The enrollments ranged from less than 250 to more than 20,000 students. Men's and women's colleges as well as coeducational institutions were surveyed. The purpose of the questionnaire was threefold: (1) t o determine the extent to which qualitative analysis was included in the &-st year's course in chemistry; (2) to ascertain the approximate percentages of time devoted to the major topics in general chemistry; and (3) t o obtain an expression of opinion as to the portions of the examination which should he given over to the several types of questions. A resume of the results of the survey is here presented in the hope that it will interest not only users of the A. C. S. General Chemistry Examination hut teachers of chemistry in general. Of the 65 forms which were returned completed, 62 answered that the test was used a t the end of a one-year chemistry course consisting of either two semesters or three quarters. Of the total, 23 said that no qualitative analysis was included in t h e course, six reported only lahoratory work in qualitative analysis, and the remaining 36 offered some qualitative as a part of the general chemistry course. The average amount of time spent in class, including lecture and qui5discnssion periods, was 3.06 hours per week (range 2 to 4), while 3.49 hours per week were spent in the lahoratory (range 0 to 6). There was some indication that the larger institutions offered more class time, averaging over 3l/4hours per meek, as opposed to less than 3 hours per week for institutions of less than 5000 students. No correlation between size of college and time spent in laboratory was 1 Presented at the General Chemistry Conference held at Pennsylvania State College, June 1&20,1953.
observed. More than three-quarters of the 25 institutions with enrollment below 1500 offered some qualitative in the first year, whereas only slightly more than half of the larger schools included qualitative. In the portion of the questionnaire devoted to subject matter, the major topics were listed along with some breakdown into subdivisions. The authors of the questionnaire appreciated the arbitrary nature of the selection of topics as well as the difficulty of estimating the time spent on each. Moreover, they expected that a considerable variation in opinion as to the relative importance of major points in the subject matter would be expressed. This variation is apparent from the maximum and minimum values given in parentheses following each topic, yet a careful scrutiny of results reveal that most of the answers fall reasonably close to the averages. The topics are listed in order of their importance as indicated by the per cent of time spent on each in the course: Nonmetals and their compounds.. ...... Metals and their compounds. . . . . . . . . . . Chemical edculations.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Atomic theory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ionic theory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fundamental definitions, symbols, formulas, equations, laws.. ............. Kinetic theow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chemical eqdlibrium. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Solutions.. :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Qualitative separations.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oxidation and reduction.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Periadio law. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Organic chemistry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Electrochemistry.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Colloids.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Other topics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~
~
15.11% (303) 12.34 (30-0) 9.59 ( 2 W ) 8.23 (23-0) 8.10 (20-0)
5.52 4.97 4.88 4.42 4.18 3.45 2.59 1.38 1.89
i12-0j (14-2) (25.5-0) (15-0.5) (2M) (IN) (10-0) ( 5-01 (20-0j
Eighteen of the schools reported no organic in the course. These included the three having less than a year's work. Strangely enough, more institutions giving no qualitative were in the no-organic group than were those which offered qualitative. Other topics receiving no time in the first year were colloids (14 institutions), electrochemistry (6), equilibrium (2), and atomic theory, periodic law, metallic elements, and ionization (one each). An attempt to discover a relationship between time devoted t o various topics and qualitative offerings revealed that such topics as ionization equilibrium, oxidation and reduction, and electrochemistry received more attention when qualitative analysis was included, 71-hile colloids. nonmetallic elements. and metallic elements received less. I n the last part the person answering was given a
AUGUST, 1954
425
chance to indicate the portion of examination time he felt should be devoted to the several types of questions. The last three tonics. namelv. .,, oreanic chemistrv. qualitative analysis, and chemistry of the metals, were appended to find out whether such material should be included in the main portion of the test or added as optional parts. The low percentage gir,eu to organic chemistry is undoubtedly an indication that few find any time to devote t o that field in the first year. This is borne out by the small percentage of time (3.45 per cent) devoted t o organic, as indicated above. The question on chemistry of the metals was put in as a result of several requests for more questions on the second semester's material. A
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The relativeimportance of question types was as follows: General h~owledgeandinformation... . . . . . . . . . . . 22.5% Quantitative application of principles.. . . . . . . . . . . . 20.9 Qualit,ativeapplication of principles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.6 Scientificmethod.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.4 Chemistry of the metals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.7 Labarntory technique. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.7 ~ ~ , ~ i t ~ .t. . .i . . ~. . . ~. . . ~. . . .~. . .~. . .~. . .~. ~ 6 i. 0 ~ . . Organic chemistry.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 . 3
The author wishes to take this opportunity to thank the members of the committee and those who took the time to answer the questionnaire for their generous cooperation.
