Chemical Education Today
Especially for High School Teachers by Diana S. Mason
It’s Not the Way I Learned! Do you remember your first calculator? I do. I was a graduating senior. It was manufactured by Texas Instruments, cost over $100, and all it did was the four basic arithmetic operations, but it was a godsend—at least, I thought so! On the other side, I wonder what my professors were saying? Were their conversations centered around issues that proclaimed, “We must ban calculators from the classroom!”, “If students can’t calculate by hand, then they’re doomed!”, “I’ll never allow anything but a slide rule in my classroom!”, “If we allow calculators in our classroom, then…”. Don’t you wish you had been a fly on the wall so you could have listened in? I imagine that some of these same conversations still go on today. We can fight the advances or we can embrace them—your call. Yes, students can download an entire textbook into some of today’s calculators, but should we ban them or change how (and what) we assess? I contend that the latter is more productive. Teaching your students to use the tools available to them will in the long run provide more benefits than weaknesses. As mentioned in the article by Pienta (1), most chemistry teachers don’t want to spend class time reviewing mathematical concepts (p 1247). This may be true, but most of us do review these needed skills and realize that without one-on-one discussions, we are spinning our wheels. One way that we can provide our students with this luxury is to tutor them in an asynchronous “virtual office hour”(1) using Web-based course tools. Data acquisition is central to the study of chemistry and we are moving in the direction of “wireless, paperless technology” (2, p 1303). In recent years, technology has advanced to the level where distributed education in the form of online delivery has become feasible without many of the technical glitches encountered even four or five years ago. This issue of the Journal calls attention to today’s classroom technology. Several of the articles mention the use of WebCT (1, 3–5), a course management tool used by many colleges and universities (and some secondary schools). Also discussed in this issue are the use of handheld personal computers (for example, Meld interfaced with Palm technology) (2), WWWAssign (6), and the latest JCE WebWare (7). The affordability, availability, and capacity of digital equipment to produce good-quality audio and video clips that can be made available online and the accessibility of tools such as WebCT have enabled a virtual explosion of online courses. Despite these advances, there are some instances where the movement towards online teaching has been slow, especially when it comes to the incorporation of laboratory experiences (8). Of course these advances bring with them the obvious control and monitoring issues. We want our students to learn for themselves and we know that many spend more time trying to circumvent the system than studying for success. However,
Secondary School Featured Article 䊕
JCE Classroom Activity: #57. Pondering Packing Peanut Polymers, by Perry A. Cook, Sue Hall, and Jill Donahue, p 1288A.
these problems will abate as we gain ability to better use current technology; we will, with experience, unravel Amylose (top) “issues with retention and student moand polystyrene tivation” (4, p 1337). (bottom): polymers Computer-enhanced learning as used in making noted by Cole and Todd (5) is “somevarieties of packing peanuts. what less effective at the precollege level” (p 1339). Progress is slow due to a number of factors, including instructors who are resistant to change, the complexity of the subject, and the handling of chemistry laboratories. Many of our students politely go through the motions but are not actively engaged with the lesson. Simply listening to chemistry lectures may provide students with little in the way of substantial learning gains, because lectures do not necessarily actively involve students in the activity (9), yet with the incorporation of today’s technology into our curriculum and the flexible, asynchronous environment of online learning with the advantages immediate feedback provides (6) many students will expand their knowledge and skills. Careful monitoring by the instructor and setting of internal deadlines for students involved in online learning are known to encourage higher completion rates than are generally reported (10). We should take advantage of today’s advances, embrace them, and be the ones to change— set the pace and avoid the trap of “it’s not the way I learned to do it!” Literature Cited 1. Pienta, N. J. J. Chem. Educ. 2003, 80, 1244–1247. 2. Hudgins, S.; Qin, Y.; Bakker, E.; Shannon, C. J. Chem. Educ. 2003, 80, 1303–1307. 3. Wamser, C. C. J. Chem. Educ. 2003, 80, 1267–1270. 4. Charlesworth, P.; Vician, C. J. Chem. Educ. 2003, 80, 1333– 1337. 5. Cole, R. S.; Todd, J. B. J. Chem. Educ. 2003, 80, 1338–1343. 6. Freasier, B.; Collins, G.; Newitt, P. J. Chem. Educ. 2003, 80, 1344–1347. 7. Kim, C. J. Chem. Educ. 2003, 80, 1351. 8. Hoole, D.; Sithambaresan, M. J. Chem. Educ, 2003, 80, 1308– 1310. 9. Birk, J. P.; Foster, J. J. Chem. Educ. 1993, 70, 180–182. 10. Liu, D.; Walter, L. J.; Brooks, D. W. J. Chem. Educ. 1998, 75, 123–125.
JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu • Vol. 80 No. 11 November 2003 • Journal of Chemical Education
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