Of Compliments and Complements—International Perspectives on the

Commentary pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc

Of Compliments and ComplementsInternational Perspectives on the American Association of Chemistry Teachers Peter G. Mahaffy* Department of Chemistry, The King’s University College, Edmonton, Alberta T6B2H3, Canada ABSTRACT: This commentary provides an international perspective on the recent decision by ACS to create and fund the American Association of Chemistry Teachers (AACT). Comments are informed by observations of what works in other countries to support K−12 chemistry teachers. The initiative is seen as timely and important, promising to support teachers in the United States who prepare individuals to serve as productive members of society at formative periods in their lives and learning. Structured interactions between K−12 chemistry teachers and postsecondary teachers and researchers in the ACS Division of Chemical Education should have synergistic benefits. Suggestions for emphases in implementation of AACT are given, including attending to pedagogical content knowledge and the origins and progression of student conceptions. AACT is also encouraged to work closely with other professional organizations that support U.S. chemistry teachers, such as the National Science Teachers Association. Experiences in other countries of chemical societies working closely with K−12 teachers to implement the International Year of Chemistry show how much enthusiasm, insight, and excitement K−12 teachers can bring to national societies. KEYWORDS: High School/Introductory Chemistry, Elementary/Middle School Science, First-Year Undergraduate/General, Misconceptions/Discrepant Events, Professional Development

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COMPLIMENTS (AND CHALLENGES) The recent “watershed” decision by the American Chemical Society (ACS) Board of Directors to create an American Association of Chemistry Teachers (AACT) is a timely and important initiative. It promises crucial support to those teachers in the United States who shape understanding of and attitudes toward science and chemistry at formative periods in the lives of young people. Drawing on experiences of professional status of and support for chemistry teachers in other countries as past-chair of IUPAC’s Committee on Chemistry Education, I offer an international perspective on the decision to create AACT. The “compliments” and “complements” in this commentary benefitted from the experiences of colleagues in Europe, Asia, Australasia, and Africa on “what works” to support K−12 chemistry teachers in their countries and regions.

not have strong backgrounds in chemistry, and that many elementary teachers (who rank very high in professional status) are intimidated by the molecular world. A well-designed professional association has the potential to provide the networking and advocacy that can begin to move the bar related to the status, education, and lifelong learning of chemistry teachers. Changing the way teachers are prepared and valued will require patience, however. For this initiative to succeed, it will need to be sustained far beyond the initial threeyear period of ACS support, at a level that brings value to teachers at a reasonable membership cost. Progressions of Learning in and about Chemistry

ACS already has a very strong and active Division of Chemical Education, focused mostly on the postsecondary level. Bringing K−12 chemistry educators into more intentional interactions with postsecondary teachers and researchers should increase understanding at all levels of how the building blocks of knowledge in chemistry might better fit together over a person’s entire educational experience. Research shows that many of the robust misconceptions students bring to postsecondary chemistry learning arise from concepts introduced in elementary or secondary school, as well as from the media and other sources.2

Status and Professional Support for Teachers

In a 2010 meeting with an International Council of Science Committee on which I served, members of the Singapore National Academy of Sciences reported that one of their biggest barriers to moving forward in science and technology had been the poor societal status and low pay experienced by K−12 teachers. In response, a systemic effort was launched to attract some of the brightest and best into science teaching by raising salary scales substantially and providing crucial professional support for teachers. The Academy felt that this effort contributed substantially to building capacity for science and technology, and to winning public support for science. What about the United States? A recent survey places the status of teaching as a profession in the United States in the middle of a pack of 21 countries,1 below countries such as Singapore, Egypt, South Korea, Turkey, Greece, and China. We also know that many U.S. high school chemistry teachers do © 2013 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.

Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Chemistry

In my own experience at our King’s Centre for Visualization in Science, professional workshops to equip K−12 teachers with the right mix of pedagogical strategies and resources for their students often gives those teachers increased confidence in their own understanding of concepts, especially at the elementary level. AACT will need to address the overlap Published: December 20, 2013 10

dx.doi.org/10.1021/ed400825k | J. Chem. Educ. 2014, 91, 10−11

Journal of Chemical Education

Commentary

how much enthusiasm, insight, and excitement K−12 teachers can bring to the profession of chemistry. AACT could help ACS tap more deeply into the resources brought to society by teachers at this level. Here is hoping that a truly reciprocal relationship will be built, leading toward concrete support for teachers and new ideas and insights for existing ACS members, with an end result of deeper understanding of and appreciation for chemistry and its role in our world.

between subject matter knowledge and pedagogythe repertoire of conceptual and pedagogical knowledge grounded in the beliefs and practices of the teacher. This pedagogical content knowledge is requisite for teaching specific aspects of the subject matter to a particular group of students at a level appropriate for their learning.3 AACT, through the ACS, can draw on a massive bank of knowledge about chemistry to enrich the set of reliable content resources for K−12 teachers. Two challenges in bringing chemistry content to those teachers will be in applying that content to relevant contexts, and in facilitating the development of pedagogical content knowledge at a learning level appropriate for their students.

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AUTHOR INFORMATION

Corresponding Author

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*E-mail: peter.mahaff[email protected].

COMPLEMENTS These compliments about the creation of NACT are accompanied by suggestions for functional complements that may improve the effectiveness of the organization. A chemical metaphor for complementarities in structure that will improve AACT’s function might be found in the precise pairing of strands of DNA nucleotides that permit their effective function. What such pairings should be visibly designed into the structure and function of a new professional association for teachers of chemistry? Several have been touched on already. The strands of detailed content knowledge of chemistry need to be intertwined with and matched to the pedagogical knowledge appropriate to the level at which teachers work. The building blocks of knowledge in and about chemistry have complementary pieces in elementary, high school, postsecondary, and graduate education in chemistry. AACT may be able to help both K−12 and postsecondary teachers tune into the pedagogies needed for successful learning, while understanding better how the particular content blocks they are responsible for stack together to form a continuum of chemistry learning. K−12 teachers of chemistry are rarely exclusively chemistry teachers. Their professional support in chemistry should complement and be strongly linked to support for teaching science and other subjects. AACT will need to guard against professionally isolating chemistry teachers from other teachers of science and other disciplines. Instead, teachers will be well served if AACT structures and services strengthen and complement other professional organizations that support science teachers in the United States, such as the National Science Teachers Association. Complementarity is often defined as a relationship in which two or more different things improve or emphasize each other’s qualities. The new “strand” of support within ACS for K−12 teachers should be built through a continual and thoughtful process of determining their needs for professional development. And morphing the structure of the ACS to accommodate a new complementary “strand” can also substantially extend its function. How might the new cohort of K−12 teacher− members be paired with existing members and groups ACS serves? The research and practice of chemistry educators at universities and colleges can be enriched by sharing experiences with teachers of the same students at earlier stages in their development of chemistry knowledge. My own approach to teaching first-year university chemistry students about structure and bonding has been influenced by what I have learned from our research with grade 5 students on the use of multiple representations and “good-enough models” for the particle nature of matter. Experiences of national initiatives in countries such as Brazil during the International Year of Chemistry 2011 punctuate

Notes

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The following colleagues shared with the author some of their experiences in supporting K−12 chemistry teachers in international contexts: Jan Apotheker (Netherlands); Suzanne Boniface (New Zealand); Bob Bucat (Australia); Mei-Hung Chiu (Taiwan); Temechegn Engida (Ethiopia); Choon Do (South Korea); Javier Garcia-Martinez (Spain); Tina Overton (UK); and Ilka Parchmann (Germany).

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REFERENCES

(1) Varkey GEMS Foundation. 2013 Global Teacher Status Index. https://www.varkeygemsfoundation.org/sites/default/files/ documents/2013GlobalTeacherStatusIndex.pdf (accessed Dec 2013). (2) Barke, H.-D.; Hazari, A.; Yitbarek, S. Misconceptions in Chemistry: Addressing Perceptions in Chemical Education; Springer: New York, 2009. (3) Bucat, R. Pedagogical Content Knowledge as a Way Forward. Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. 2004, 5 (3), 215−228.

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dx.doi.org/10.1021/ed400825k | J. Chem. Educ. 2014, 91, 10−11