Chemistry and the Educationally Disadvantaged Student
I provocative
The necessity for institutions of higher education to address themselves to the needs of the educationally disadvantaged has become obvious during the last few years. "Open door" admissions policies, quota systems, liberal veterans' benefits, an expanding urban-suburban population, and a general deterioration of core curricula in and depersonalization of inner city schools has led to large fractions of entering college classes being composed of illprepared students. These students, as a result of either interest or their need to satisfy distributive requirements, find themselves enrolled in introductory science courses, lacking the necessary background in mathematics and unable to read a t an ac6eptahle level. "Dropping out" of science is the most common result. This situation presents educators in chemistry and science with an opportunity to have a strong voice in general edutational policy based on their unique expertise in teaching methodologies. Traditionally, teaching in the sciences has vacillated between attempts to teach concepts and problem solving by example and attempts to teach concepts and problem solving by deduction. On the undergraduate level, physicists usually use large doses of deductive teaching and very small amounts of teaching by example. Chemists seem to favor teaching by example, but use significant fractions of deductive teaching. Of course, the methods of individual instructors vary widely, but methodological lines are drawn rouehlv as described. Where does thisleave the student who has a poor hackmound? Part of the Door math backaround of the students entering college resdted from omi&ons and sparsity in "new math" texts which have now been corrected. Main among these was lack of necessary repetitive drill. Added to this is the fact that in many inner city schools, undisciplined learning situations and a plethora of inexperienced, disinterested teachers result in a minimization of repetition and reinforcement so necessary to basic mathematics. Reading skills have also suffered from this. Teaching by example and reinforcement even on the college level should he effective with educationally disadvantaged students. Renetition and reinforcement are the mainstavs of a chemist's repertoire of teaching techniques, because chemistrv. as a discipline. is cumulative. Most introductory chemistry courses are taught in this manner. Why, then, do such a large percentage of disadvantaged students fail in introductory chemistry courses? Part of the reason is that although teaching by example is the method of choice, few introductory chemistry courses contain sufficiently elementary material taught in this manner to bring the student up to the point where the standard material taucht in the course makes any sense. Also,
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Journal of Chemical Education
opinion
in introductory courses, little individualized instruction is available to the student and the trend of lack of attention which he encountered in secondary schools is continued. Finally, too often, communication between teacher and student is hampered by the fact that few instructors in sciences take dilferenc& in the cultural hackgrounds of their students into account, assuming that cultural differences will have no hearing on learning in a discipline like chemistry. Failure is virtually assured. With very little effort, chemistry teachers can adapt to this situation where faculty in other scientific disciplines might have more difficulty. The tools (teaching by example) are already there. If the instructor is willing to work more carefully, utilize the modern techniques at his disposal (open labs, self-paced instruction, etc.), begin a t a more elementary level (e.g., teaching simple ratio and proportion), and still expend the effort necessary to bring the student u p to an acceptable level of competence, be has a much better chance of succeeding where others might fail. Additionally, individualized instruction is possible even in a relatively large class if the instructor has the energy and time to devote to that end. Finally, an acceptance of the existence of the problems created by cultural, ethnic, and economic differences and the mistrust caused by them is the first step in the self-education of a facultv member who hopes to communicate adequatelv with the educationally disadvantaged student. Of course, large classes, large disadvantaged student populations, thenecessity to publish, and relatively low faculty salaries all stand in the way of realization of these goals. In the end, however, the main barrier seems to be lethargy. It is all too common t o hear a statement like "I teach in an open admissions school. Equilibrium calculations? (or any other semi-complicated calculation). They're too hard for my students so I just don't teach them." Generations of ill-prepared students undergo the transformation into ill-prepared chemists. A commitment must he made to quality education in preliminary and introductory courses, and it must come in the form of faculty talent utilization and recognition. Instructors for such courses should he chosen according to their interest in the work and recognition must be given for productivity in that endeavor, not in standard scholarly pursuits. Chemistry, more than any other field, has potential for success in educating the educationally disadvantaged student. It is only necessary to expend the effort to do it well.
Michael A. Wartell Metropolitan State College Denver, Colorado 80204
