Chemistry for Citizens: A Symposium New Ideas for Improving Public Understanding of Science and Technology Wllllam Mooney El Camin0 College Tonance. CA 90506 I n 1982, the National Research Council report "Science for Nonspecialists: The College Years" argued that "College science education should enable nonspecialists to overcome fears that might prevent them from launching a lifetime learning experience about science and technology"(1). This position reinforces our approach to a science requirement course based on the Jacob Bronowski text and film series "The Ascent of Man." Since 1975. the course has been designed as a springboard for lifelong learning about science and technology as well as their interactions with society, emphasizing the dimensions of scientific literacy and using the informal conduits for communicatina science t o the oublic.
( 6 ) Information about upcoming television programs, current mu-
seum and lihrary exhibits, lectures and other special scienceand-teehnalogy-related events is distributed at appropriate times throughout the course. ( I ) Students are required to visit one or more museums and locate exhibits that are related to the concepts or specific topics of the course. Each student selects a particular aspect of the course and in an 8-10-page paper describesa group i f museum exhibits to be recommended for purchase by the hypothetical "Jacob Bronowski Memorial Museum." The . oaoer . must include a wellreasoned justification for the selections. Llterature Cited
ton. OC. Oetoher 1981
How Much Chemistry Should be in a Nonmajors' Chemistry Course
Conduits for Communlcatlng Science to the Public The ACS Task Force on the future of chemical education (2), stimulated by a committee of the AAPT (3), suggests that the methods, concepts, and interactions of science and technology are communicated to members of our culture throueh a varietv of oraanizations and orocesses which thev call tGe ''condui& for getting science the public." he& include a formal svstem centered in courses taken for credit but also include a-host of informal conduits: electronic and print mass media; institutions such as museums, libraries, and professional organizations; and individuals through public appearances, hooks, and participation on public bodies. We have chosen to integrate these conduits into our college science course for nonscience majors, an idea promoted by Rogers and Dunwoody (4) as well as Miller and Barrington (5).Our experience has shown that the instructional use of the mass media and museums stimulates interest, informs students, stimulates a search for new knowledge, catalyzes discussion among peers, keeps earlier learning alive, provides a basic structure for a lifelong learning pro-gram.. and links basic science content with current events. Seven specific techniques for using informal conduits for communicatina science and technoloay .. are utilized in our "History of ~ c i e n c e "course:
tb
(1) Current mass media print materials are displayed as part of
each class. (2) Representative articles from newspapers and magazines are ~ostedon the bulletin hoard in the classroom andlor placed on ieserve in the library. (3) Students are reauired to com~letefive mass media article Dapew m which they currelate the conrent of the article wrrh that oifhe course and ihvw that they haw been inrellertually stirnulated by this correlation. (4) Overhead transparencies of selected articles are used to generate interest, stimulate discussion, and exemplify the analysis of articles appropriate for required papers. (5) Mass media articles are used in every test and questions derived from them account for 25%of total examination ~oints.
782
Journal of Chemical Education
Rlchard Stelner The UniversiIy of Utah Salt Lake City, UT 64112
When I first started teaching chemistrv for nonscientists several years ago, the emphas?s was on ielevancy. All too often this approach led to discussions about chemistry without actuallv teachine chemistrv. For examnle. we~talked about stomach a n t a c k (and periaps includeb a few demonstrations) without discussine - .DH andlor arid-base chemistry. As a result, there was no basis for the carrying over of conceots and ideas to an issue of national imnortance: acid rain. kimilarly we talked about nuclear eneriy without dieculisingatcrmicstructureor statesof matter. 1 believe that hy glossing over fundamental principles of chemistry we are omitting the elegance of science and are, therefnre, doing h t h our studc.nts and our profession a disservice. Another problem with our early et'furts in nonmajors courses was the time spent apologizing for the chrmistry content of the course and/or giving fundamental aspects of chemistry cute subtitles to makr them more palnta1)le. It occurred to me that my musicand English colleapuesdid not radically alter their apprnnch when teaching scientists. \Yhy does society assume all literate people need to know music and literature but science is only lor scientists'? As these questmns and thoughts neighed on me. 1 came across a C. 1'. Snow quotation that finally trmught me out of the closet. ~
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A mod manv times I have been oresent at eatherines .. of oeoole . . who,hy rhc sra.ndards ot'the traditi;mal rulturi, are thought highly edurnr~dand who have with cunsiderable gusto bet." t.rpr~s,ing thelr incredulity at the illiteracy 01acirntists. Once or twicr I have been provoked and have asked the company how many of them could describe the Second Law of Thermodynamics. The response was cold: it was also negative. Yet I was asking something which is about the scientific equivalent oE "Have you read a work of Shakespeare's?"
