Junior Science (Hessler, John C.) - Journal of Chemical Education

Junior Science (Hessler, John C.) Carleton E. Preston. J. Chem. Educ. , 1925, 2 (7), p 622. DOI: 10.1021/ed002p622.2. Publication Date: July 1925. Cit...
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rect one, an s e t whch presvpporer certain earefvi thinking or computation. Definitions are not required and equations are called for but once in both papers except ar they may be ineidcoral to the solution of aproblem. The terts are stated to be applicable from the middle of t h e first .emester up to the time when general chemistry branchep out into wecialized subjects. Other tests are atated t o be in preparation. As a brief and rapid method for testing attainment of students along certain lines and as a means of reducing the time vsually allotted for examinations, these terts may prove satisfactory. There is a point of view in regard to these tests, and t o others of similar character, which ought not t o he overlooked. The purpose of cdllcation is: first, t o train the stadent', ability t o think straight; and, second, to develop his pswers of self-exprc~sion. In the older types of examinations, to which the College Entrance Board still almost entirely adheres, the student is required t o express in his own language, without any ruggertive appended statements, what he knows about the questions set. I" order t o be prepared t o pas5 such examinations the student needs such practice at frequent opportunities t o develop through written work his powers of selfexpression. Obviously this requires both time Rich's Chemistry Tests; Gamma and Epsilon and labor on the part of teacher as well m stuTests with Manual of Instruction for GMnb dent, hut how else *hall the student get trnining and Scoring Tests. S. G. Rrc". PuhlicSchool in one of the fundamentals of edvcation? The Publishing Co.. Bloomingtan. Illinois. 1923. tertr devised by Mr. Rich, and by others, doubt12 pp. 22 X 28 em. $100 per 22 net. less demand careful thinking, bur it may he querTeachern who are burdened a t frequent intionrd whether they afford t h a t opportunity for tervals with the heavy task of correcting large =elf-expression which the older type of test afnumbers of examination papers in chemistry.. forded. T o underscore a dozen answers t o ar and who "onrider a saving of time and 1.hor many questions may demand the ability to think or primary importance, will he interested in rtralght hut i t doe. not, in the judgment of the any method of conducting examination. which reviewer, provide much if any opport,,nity for promises t o reduce t h e drudgery of correcting t h a t self-expression which the stlldent must depapers. Such a method is offered in the two tests velop if he is t o meet successfully t h e standards mentioned above. s e t for adnlirrion to college. Quoting from the author's Manual, the chief If may also be debated whether it is better point. t o be tested in chemintry eraminztionr p e d a g o ~to piace hefore the candidate printed are: "ability to think, information. ability t o anrwerr, one of which is known t o be correct, or to d v e problems, habits and knowledge acquirrd ask qllestions which must be answered ~ o l e l y from work in the hhoratory." from the candidate's knowledge, without the The content of t h e two tests is derived from p~ssihiliiyof s u ~ ~ e s t i owhich n may lie in a list material contained in five standard textbooks. of answers. twenty-five recent eraminatioos given by the For variety's sake and for the purpose of apCollege Entrance Board r n d by the New York proaching the matter of testing attainment from Regents, and from a number of state syllabi. = new angle, the occasional use 01 such terts as N o material has been used which r v w not common t h w e above indicated may be recommended, b.t t o at least two texts, or to a t e x t and an examinat h e reviewer would he loth t o .base a series of Lion and ayllahua. marks upon the data derived solely from such a I" order t o avoid terting memory atone, the set of tests. C. H. S ~ O N B questions are arranged on the ''eyclie principle" of Kugg as follows: thinkins, memory, numeried, Junior Science. JOHN C. HB$SL$P, Ph.D., thinking, memory, laboratory. On each paper Pa. Benj. H. Sanborn 81 co. New York. the time allowed for answering the twenty-five 1923. xvii 533 pp. 13 X 19 cm. $1.60. questions h twenty-five minutes. To each I n hi. preface the author ha7 taken the viewquestion four answer3 are appended. The point t h a t while every child user in an empirical candidate ir toid t h a t one of these answers in way the f a c b of science, relatively few children each ease is correct and is instructed to underleave school with theve facts clarified and exscore t h a t answer which he believes to he the corI t s particular value t o chemistry teachers lies in the diagrams and the numerous references to chemistry. I t should give the non-biologiral teacher of chemistry interesting and valuable side material. The dingrsms that caught the eye included: (1)storqe and releare 01 energy, (2) food m m ufacturc, storaee and assimilation. (3) per cent of dcohol in patent medicines and in liquors, (I) carbon cycle, and (5) nitrogen cycle. These diagrams are unu.ual1y good. T h a t the text is closely iinkcdup withchemistry is further evidenced by the tact t h a t eighteen of the 357 illustrations might he found in the usual chemistry textbook; one of them shows the interior 01 a chemical laboratory. A rough patimate rho,"$ t h a t ahollt one~sixfhof the r e f e r rneer in the Index arc chrmiehi in nature. Sixty~thrre laboratory cxerriscr are included and i t may interest authors of chemistry texts t o know t h a t they "are included in the body of the book, because" t o quote from the preface. "they constitute an es.ential part of the course and because they are more convcnieot for use here than they would be if placed in a sep-rate volume or in appendices." W. SecnanLoM

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piaimed in such a way as to satisfy their natural curiosity or interest. Particularly is this so where science courses are offered only in the later high-school years. H e has therefore adapted this book to the needn of those too young t o Leave school but not too young to ask continually the que3tions, "Why?" and "How)" with an interest as eager ar i t in new, and ha. fitted both the treatment of the subject and his style of expression to pupils of junior high-rchaol grades. Believing that, a t t h e age for which he writes. children have a natural interest in scientific phenomena, and need not so much lo be lowlil as lo learn, the author introduces his topics as nearly a . pomible in the form of quertionr such' a r they would ask, and then, by simple explanation, illustration, or description of experiment, goes on t o give suitable answers. At the elore of the chapters, preceding hrief summaries, are usudiy a few practical exercise. eaiiiog for a p plication of what has just been discussed. The grcatept difficulty confronting the writer of a general science t u t is t o find for i t a coherent plan, which will give t h e impression of vnity rather than of a smattering of unrelated facts. In all probability no b m k har yet entirely overcome this defect. Prof. Header, after a brief introduction, divides his book into the followiog six more or Leas comprehensive units: The Atmosphere and Itc Relation to Man, Matter and Energy in Earth and Sky, science in the Household, How We Use Nature's Porces, LivinaThings und Their Relation t o Us, Our Bodies and How to c a r e for Them. 0 1 t h e forty chapters in the book sir are dis~incfly chemical, with titles ar follows: Fire, Oxygen, Carbon and Carbon Dioxide, Substances. Minerals and Metab. Acids and Aikalies. The chapter entitled "Substancen" takes up chemical and physical ebaoges, element, compound and mixture, hydrogen, electroiy~ieof water and its synthesis from the pro duet^, salt and oystailizatian, d f u r and phosphorus in their various forms; t h a t on " ~ i n e r d sand Metals" gives a brief idea of the ocel.rrence and the smelting of ores, together with short paragraphs on coal, building stones, bricks. mortar and concrete. I n addition, there are scattered item. of chem. i d information "ndcr other headings, ouch as chlorination of water, hard waters and boiler scale under "Water Supply;" netion of acids and bases upon cotton and wool, and soap-msking under "Washing and Cleaning;" action of yeast and of haking pbwder under "Cooking and Baking;.. giaso-making and the manuiaeture and use o i illuminating gas under "Light in the Home;" and sugar refining and action of legumes on nitrogen under "Piants of Use t o Man.'' The various classes of loads are discussed in a n app"p"ate chapter, with rererenee t o the elements contained in each dana; also the processes of oxidizing them t o set free energy and of storing energy through starch and sugw formation in leaves are simply outlined.

Throughout the book the writer keeps constantly in mind the age and interests of his readen. He presents ideas in t h e concrete rather than the abstract, leaving mathematicr, symbolism, writing of equations and statement or law8 for a more advanced course. Knowing from long experience as a teacher the aversion of t h e juvenile mind for anything requiring painntaking

recently awakened interest in natural phenomena. A loore~leaf laboratory manusl containing fifty simple experiments, very few of which invaive measurementa, has been pvbiirhed t o secompany the textbook. Can~srorrII. PRBSTOW Chart Showing t h e Chemical Relationshim i n t h e Mineral Kingdom. P ~ m s CossrHrr a P u l ~ ~ nM.S. r. J. Wiley-and Sons, New York. 1995. 17 X 20 cm. 31 p p $3.00. This unique volume eompriser 12pager of text. a 9-page alphabetical list of 1611 minerals, another 9-page iirt of the same minuais arranged numerically, and a linen-backed chart 49 X 94 cm. The three-fold purpose of t h e chart in best explained by t h e opening paragraph: "(A) T o serve as a ready reference t o the man who would know quiekl,., whether for an eeooomie or a rcirntifie purpose, the answer t o such qllertions as: 'How many and what are the minerals eontaining germanium, and what nre their mmpositionr?'; or, ,Doer si1vv occur with oxygen i n any Wneral?'; or, 'Do phosphides or dieides occur as minerals?'; (B) T o serve as an aid in Lhterminatiee Mineralogy, especially in the case of rare minerals, where either the s m d amount of the unknown substanre, or the Lack of laboratory Iaeilitier (as when in the field), precludes the possibility of making more than a few rpecifie t e s t s . I t may also serve as a complement t o mierorhemieal methods in the laboratory, and ari a reminder to verify the presence or absence of minute quantities of certain interesting replacing elements; (C) T o form a mechanical stimulus to speculation upon the "hemistry of the esrth, by affording upon one sheet a statistical survey of the affinities and the antipathies which hold sway in t h e mineral kingdom." The right- and left-hand vertical margins of t h e chart contain the 54 "dominant etectro-positive mnstituentn of a mineral" and those elements "which occur uncombined b u t in mineral form." The top and hottom horizontal margins contain the 92 "eleetro~positiue minor constituents." the "eieetro-negative conrtituents,'l the eammom eiectro-negative radicals, the water moleclde, three 01 the unknown elements, and the "native elements." Elilmples are given t o show how t o use the "hart. Briefly, t h e "box" m m p o o d i n g t o t h e marginal dominant and minor constituents m n tainr t h e numbers assigned t o all of the minerals