lndividualliz Chemistry in the Small H@h School Leila U. McMullian Marianna High School Marianna. FL 32446
1
Marianna High School For the past 23 years I have been teaching chemistry a t M: a h m a High Schwl, which has a student population of less th an 900. Althoueh l m t e d in Jackson Countv. ". Florida. which is geographically quite large, the area is primarily agricultural, oooulation and a minimum of W1ith a small. somewhat static . . industry and research. Since most of the articles in this column are written hv t eachers from larger schools, I was gratified and somewhat fr iehtened when 1 was asked to submit this article. While tempted to decline, it occurred to me that there may he others in similar positions who might receive encouragement from m y effortsor benefit from ideas we have found~uccessful. We have only five teachen in our entire science department, hrx t we are fortunate in that each of us is hiehlv soecialized in hisown field. We do a great deal of what, if not truly team This coooeration ranees teachine. -. is at least verv-coooerative. . fr,om sending students t o another teacher for consultation to' ac:tuallv swaooine classes for a soecific tooic. With a small St)udeni ho&&dfaculty, especialfy in an area where everyone krlows everyone else's grandparents, rapport is much more Ptmonal. We are able to offer two years of chemistry and hiolow, as well as a year of physics, ecology .. and consewation, ar~d&atomy and physiology: At our school, we have a rather good media center. In addition, there are many handbooks, copies of journals, and a1lout 100 advanced or specialized books on chemistry housed in the chemistrv suite. These are available for students to use in the c~assroodsas well as to check out for various lengths of time. Our media center contains an excellent collection of films, filmstrips, and other research material. Also, there are nilmerous cassettes on chemistry which 1 have prepared. M any of these have transparencies or slides to accompany th em. These have never been submitted for puhlication, pr!rhaps hecause I am constantly updating them.
-..
I
CIiern 1 Upon entering the ninth grade, the academically outst.anding student a t Marianna may elect a physical science
course which is primarily pre-physics and pre-chemistry. These students go on to Chem 1in the tenth grade. However, eleventh and twelfth grade students who have not selected the physical science route may also register for the same Chem 1, leading to a very wide range of background preparation, interests, and abilities. Because of this, i t hecomes almost impossible to hold the student's attention-much less motivate him-by teaching a conservative, descriptive type of chemistry course. The average enrollment in a Chem 1class is 24, but classes may range from 15 to 30. For years prior to the advent of the lahoratory approach, I taught strictly descriptive chemistry. In recent years, 1have been deeply exposed, through a variety of committees, to mbre up-to-date chemistry programs, ranging from Chem Study to self-paced courses. Although all of these programs are excellent, none seemed to fit my situation a t Marianna. Consequently, 1have developed my own course of study which includes various elements from each of the programs, as well as many of my own ideas. I feel that this approach must have number of students from some merit. as a disorooortionate . . our area are entering the chemistry field. Last year alone, three ~ students went either to the University of Florida or t * Florida State University to major in chemistry, while another is majoring in chemical engineering a t the University of Florida. In addition, students of ours are setting the score in chemistry placement examinations given a t various universities. At the heginning of the year, each Chem 1student is issued two textbooks, one of the descriptiveapproach and the other the laboratory approach, as well as a laboratory manual. At the same time, they receive a great deal of mimeographed material. During the year, I stress thinking and learning with a minimum of memorization. One of my favorite dogmas is In this feature, high school chemistry teachers from around the country open their classroom for all to see. Teachers are invited to share their techniques, methods, and ideologies. Comments and contributions should be sent to the featureeditor, Duane Sell, William Rainey Harper College, Algongain and Roselle Roads, Palatine, IL 60061.
-
fi
fAih fi
@
Leila McMullian received her B.S. from the University of Georgia and her M.S. from Florida State University. She has continued her graduate education at Florida State, Cornell, Montana State, Valdosta State, and the UniversityafFhida. She is also s graduate of The Johns Hopkins Hospital School of Nursing. Mrs. McMullian has been teaching high school chemistry for 26 years, 23 of which have been at Marianna High School, where she is presently teaching. She has also been chairman of the Science Department at Chipola Junior College and director of Nursing Education at Florida State Hospital at Chattahoochee. Involved with professional organizations at all levels, she is also on the Board of Directors and Scholarship Chairman of the Florida Foundation for Future Scientists. In 1979,Mrs. McMullian received both the MCA and ACS Regional High School Teachers Award. She hasalso been the recipient of the ACS Florida High School Teachers Award in 1968 and 1978, and the American Heart Association Award in 1973.
8 / Journal of Chemical Education
.
"Why clutter up your brain with figures that are a t your fmgertips." With constant use, the students do a lot of "unconscious" memory work, hut it has been my experience that this type is retained, whereas something memorized, especially for a test, is dismissed after said test. The Chem 1course is built around eight obligatory units. Instructions are issued on mimeographed forms as each student is ready for a unit. No formal date for completion is given; however, discretion must be used and a date does have t o he set for completion by each student. There are several other more specidized un& which students who complete the requirements may use to enrich their course. The student is able to receive a "B" for completing the required work hut must do something extra for an "A". Since chemistm is an elective. manv of the lower achievine many high ahilit; students do not t&e this course: non-science students do take Chem 1.mainlv so that they mav CLEP out of the physical science rec&rem& in college. ~b the reallv chemist, this may seem to be a poor reason . inspired . for taking chemistry, but to many students (more than we like to admit), it is a very valid reason. However, during the year, a few of these students actually become interested in chemistry, even to the extent of entering it as their life's work.
ow ever,
Sumlementary Material .. I supplement the required texts with a number of "programmed" exercises which I have either developed or purEhased, and which the students use as needed. ~ h e s seem e to be more popular with the non-science oriented students, perhaps &use they are still depending more on rote memory. I have also compiled many "daily" practice sheets on such thines as eauations.moblems. vocabularv. etc.. which students use to test'themse1;es. If thLy need beii with the first, they may select another, and another, and so on, until they feel proficient and confident to take the "real" examination. I lecture onlv at the reauest of the maioritv- of the class. Otherwise, I spend my timk helping students in $mall groups or on an individual basis. Fortunately, I have a fairly large laboratory, a darkroom, an office, an extra storage room, and the "stacks" of the nearby library. During a typical class session, these are all in use. A visitor may be astonished a t the informality of the class and the participation of the students. One group of students may b e performing an experiment, another in the darkroom with films, others scattered about
-
listening to tapes, some working or reading individually, while either my laboratory assistant or I spend time helping another group work problems a t the chalkboard. A Working Knowledge of Chemistry I attemot to stress eeneralization and discoverv throueh practical laboratory work. For instance, the old qu&titatse experiment of iron filings displacing copper from a copper sulfate solution may teach students how much copper can be displaced by a given quantity of iron, but the students have not really gained much useful knowledge since in all prohahility no one is ever going to repeat that experiment in real life. However, if the students write their own report in the form of an equation, or see that they have documented a displacement series, or even that they can clean silverware with aluminum and an electrolytic solution, I feel that they have gained a working knowledge of chemistry. In addition to the regular classroom activities, we make several field trips to commercial and college laboratories. The management of the Monsanto plant in nearbv Pensacola has. for years, allowed my studentsto be conductkd through thei; laboratories, giving them a more enriched tour than the regular tours that they conduct. This generosity has been productive for both them and my students. The students see that there are interesting, rewarding, and lucrative jobs in the chemical field which do not require earned doctorates. Many of these students have gone to work for Monsanto as laboratory technicians either directly from high school or after two sears of studv at the local iunior colleee. We also visit the laboratories a; Florida ~tateilniversitya i d those at the Naval Cnastal Research Svskm in Panama Citv. Those students who are seriously considering chemical reseirch are greatly stimulated. Chem 2 Chem 2 stresses theory and descriptive chemistry-probablv more than most schools-since Chem 1was fundamentaliy a laboratory course, and since most Chem 2 students are involved with individual research projects. Beyond the regular classroom work, we use the project approach for the gifted and science-oriented student. At our particular school, the Junior Academy of Science (JAS) provides (as could any other science club) an organization for the administration and work on research projects and papers. Participation in this organization is strictly voluntary on the part of the students and teachers. One of the advantaees of smaller schools such as Marianna is ~-~~~~~~~ that students generhy know all the faculty members. Thus, even thoueh a student is in class with one facultv member. he will not h&itate to seek help from another facuity membdr if his proiect seems to need that teacher's expertise. ~ h emaintains j ~ a~collection ofc6projkctideas," lists of winning International Science and Eneineerine Fair (ISEF) projecc from the past several years, and a lot of current lit': erature. Each member of the group, students and teachers alike, is research conscious, clipping articles of ideas from written sources and bringing in notes of TV announcements on current research. Contaci by letter or phone is then made to many of these outside researchers inan attempt tureceive additional help in developing the project. To date, we have received assistance from as far away as Japan and Europe. Hesides taking part in the field trips with the Chem 2 class, those students who are working on individual research projects visit other laboratories and srientists. 1have found that a truly dedicated research person is more than willing to help young students if the latter shows the oroper interest and ahilitv. Although the school district is locatkd in a rural area, we do have the world's largest peanut processine plant which employs several chemists. We alio have a forestry research renter, an ecdog)' and conservation laboratory, a poultry nutrition center, a local junior college, and, of course, many professional people such as doctors, dentists, veterinarians, pharmacists, and others. Each of these has heloed several students of mine. At this writing, 15 of my curren't students are working with ~
Introducing Duane Sell, Editor of "View from my Classroom" Duane Sell is the new editor of "View from My Classroom." He brings with him to this position experience at both secondary and tertiary levels. Duane received his B.S. in 1968 from Huntington College, after which he taught Chemistry and Physics at Northview Public Schools, Grand Rapids, Michigan, for three years. He then went back to graduate school at ' Purdue University where he received his M S . in 1974. He taught for two wars at the state university bf New York Agricultural and Technical College at Alfred.He presently teaches General Chemistry and Quantitative Analysis at William Rainey Harper College. Mr. Sell has a special interest in electroehemistrv and the elemental content of meteorites. He is very active inehemieal education and maintains a close association with the secondary school community.
Volume 57. Number 7, July 1980 1 49s
I professionals from the local communitv or nearbv colleees and I
Perhaps this "farming out system" is why my prlnclpal says he considers me to be the perfect teacher for an aericulturai area, To receive this valuable assistance, the usual process is that students will occasionally visit their consultants and return to do much of their work at either Marianna or Chipola Junior College, which is about two blocks from our high school. A few of the younger students who may not fully develop their project with one year's work continue through the summer and into the next year. We attempt to place our Summer Science Institute students in colleges near enough to enable them to continue their project during the following school year. For students that are involved in this type of work, the experience can be quite rewarding. For example, three years ago a former student heard a television program on research being done on the grapefruit peel. She visited Florida Citrus Lahoratories in Lakeland. The people there put her in contact with a chemist at the California Citrus Laboratories. The followine summer, this student attended the Summer Science Inatitute at FSC where several chemi3u became interested in her work. They helped her get in contact with chemists from Poland, who were involved with the same tvue .. of research. Her ~ r o i e c t was an ISEF winner, and she is patenting one of the processes that she develooed. But best of all. she won a four-vear scholarship to &u, and the citrus industry in ~lorida-has offered her a job after graduation from college.
-
1 :
I
'I I
..
Not Without Drawbacks
I 1
Teaching a t Marianna, as probably is the case a t any schwl, is not always without its drawbacks. Perhaps the biggest disadvantage to my chemistry program is the 50-min periods. T o he able to handle the dailv. rewired listen to an. .oa~erwork. . nouncements, and check equipment in and out, our laboratory t m e 1s shortened by several minutes. For vears. I hnve tried to estahlish a t least two 2-hr laboratory s&& a week hut have met with no success. Conseauentlv. I use lahoratorv exthat may he done in sessions;fashioned after chose Stud\. prorram. I keep the back row of mv lalx,. ratory, which is u
