Race and Ethnicity in the Teaching of Chemistry A New Graduate Seminar Catherine Hurt Middlecamp and John W. Moore University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706 Since the early 1970's, our department periodically has offered a one-credit graduate seminar course, Chemistry 901, devoted to issues of teaching and learning chemistry. Most semesters, the course has explored issues related giving lectures, running a discussion section, assigning &ad&, or selecting course content. Some semesters, however, the course addresses special topics. For example, "The Use of Demonstrations in Teaching Chemistry" was a recent course offering (1). Students may (and do) repeat their enrollment in Chemistry 901. In the spring of 1992, the special topic: "Race and Ethnicity in the Teaching of Chemistry" was offered for the first time. This paper describes what led the authors to initiate such a course, the course syllabus and reading list, and how it was rehewed by seminar participants. Background Like many new courses, the race and ethnicity seminar came from a context that was favorable to its ince~tion.A campus institute awarded us funding for resonrcematerials to develop the course. The campus climate was supportive, that is, cultural inclusiveness was being explored a t a number of different levels. Finally, the timing of the course was right in that we knew a nu&er of students who were interested in the topic and willing .to enroll. The national scene in hieher education also favored the development of such a co&e. Most directly, the impetus has come from the debate currently underway on the role of race and ethnicity in the college curriculum (2).Much of this debate has originated in the humanities and social sciences and has centered around the "canon", i.e., the core of works that is taueht. At issue is what should be included and excluded from the curriculum and the way in which this should be decided. Although scientists mostly have been absent from this debate, the issues still concern them. As faculty in other aisciplines have examined what is taught and-how it is being taught, they have directed a number of comments a t science and the professional community of scientists:
. . .the scientific community inevitably reflectsthe values of American society at large in its own social structures, beliefs, and attitudes. And, like American society in general, American science reflects the dominance of whites (3). Science is usually taught by males and is regarded as the quintessentially masculine intellectual activity(4). We lend to forget that mnny of the rore pmpositioos upon which the sciences rear, aurh nsnhjeetivi~,pnsirivlam,and cmpiricim, are cultural products and thus may be culturc-bound 6,.
Statements such as these raise a number of issues and questions. I n the midst of the discussions generated around these and other points of view, the initiation of a seminar course to explore the relevance of race and ethnicity to the teaching of chemistry was proposed.
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Table 1. Representative Titles from Course Bibliography 1. Blacks, Science, andAmerican Education;Pearson, Willie Jr.; Bechtel, H. Kenneth, Eds.; Rutgers University Press, 1989. 2. The Cultural Dimensions of Educational Computing; Bowers, C. A,; Teachers College Press, 1988. 3. The Education of a WASP: Stalvey, L.; University of Wiscunsin Press, 1989. 4. Ethnomathematics:A Multicuifural View of Mathematical Ideas; Ascher, M.; BrooksICole. 1991. 5. Femaie-Friendly Science; Rosser, S. V.; Pergamon Press, 1990. 6. liliberal Education: The Pofitics of Race and Sex on Carnous 7. lnveslmg n the Human Porenf!al: Sc~ence and Engrneering at the Crossroads; Malyas. M. -; Ma.colm,S. M., Eds.: AAAS Books, 1991. 8. The Japanese and Western Science; Watanabe. M. ;University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991. 9. Muiticultural Education: Issues and Perspectives: Banks, J. A,; Banks. C. A,; Allyn and Bacon. 1989. 10. One Third of a Nation: Reoori of the Commission on Minorib Panrc~pal!onIn ducals son in Amencan ble. Amer can ~ 0 t . n ; on Ed~catlonand the Ed~cat~onal Comm ss on of tne States. 1988 11. ~a;k%gScmce: Language, Learnrng and Values; Lemke. J. -.; Ao ex P~olsnmg Corporation. 1990. 12. They're No1 DumD. They're DilferencTob as. S ; Research Corporation. 1990. 13. Toward the Year 2000: Listening to the Voics of Native America; National Advisory Council on Indian Education, 1991. 14. Whose Science? Whose Knowledae?Hardina, S.: Cornell University Press, 1991.
Course Announcement In preparing to teach this course, we were not able to look to any answers "in the back of the book" about our questions regarding the relationships between race, ethnicity, and science. I n fact, there was no book. We, therefore, proposed to begin by bringing together relevant ideas from a scattered and diverse literature (see Table 1). Over the course of the semester, we trusted that the class interactions would generate a set of useful questions to pursue. Two months prior to the start of the semester, we circulated a course announcement, reproduced in part in Table 2. We chose to direct the announcement toward both graduate students in chemistry and undergraduates in science education who were preparing to be teachers. As it later turned out, five students enrolled for credit: two undergraduates in science education, two chemistry graduate students, and a masters student from environmental studies. However, 18~ e o ~showed le UD on the first day of class. Although thereLwai some attrition over the course of the semester, in addition to the registered students, the participants regularly numbered over a dozen
Table 2. Course Announcement: Chemistry 901 This course will explore racial and ethnic topics as they relate to the teaching of chemistry. It is a graduate-level wurse designed for those who are interested in teaching andlor who may one day find themselves with the responslbilit~esof tnitiating a new wurse or redesigning a chemistry curriculum. Race and Ethnicity What do these terms encomoass and how do thev relate to course design? What is the Aature of the current debate over race and ethnicity in the curriculum? What has already happened in other disciplines? The Chemistry Curriculum Wnat is the 'cJlture" of science in genera ? Of cnernlstry n part cb ar? What s traditiona ly incluoed (and left out) ot general chem stry comes7 How mignt toplcs relating to race and ethnicity be taught? Teaching Strategies What is meant bv "mulficulturaleducation"?What multicuitural teaching strategres (lab, lecture hall, discussion section) are available to chemistry instructors? How can certain teaching practices impact differentially on different groups of students? a n d included a number of postdocs and graduate students who were one semester away f m m their first teaching job. I n running t h e wurse, we also had the help of a colleague i n the School of Business, Brenda Pfaehler. She brought to u s expertise i n t h e area of teaching a n d learning styles, along with an interest i n w-teaching a similar seminar for students in t h e School of Business.
Course Requirements and Syllabus The course m e t weekly for an hour and a half over t h e s required to attend, read course of 16 weeks. ~ t u d i n t were a number of books a n d articles, a n d submit a project. Students also kept a journal over t h e course of t h e semester in which they logged their personal ideas, as well as their reactions to a number of issues raised i n class discussions. The first half of t h e semester proceeded along t h e following outline:
Week Topic 1. Introductions. Opening question: "What do race and ethnicity have to do with the teaching of thermodynam-
ics?" (Or insert another scientific tonic . of .vour choice.) 2. What is "ethnicity"? What do we include as being "ethnic" when we describe something? To what extent do we use ourselves as a reference point? Assignment: read and brine to class anv book about racism. 3. What counts as a book about racism? What were we looking for as we read them? How is what we experience differenffalike from what others exrrerience? How might teachers inadvertentlv discriminate? 4. Haw do you observe your awn culture? How can we o b serve the culture of science? Exercise: Go and do ethnom a. ~ b i eresearch in the chemistrv building. 5. Discussion ofjournals. 6. Are the questions we are asking culturally based? Is the "truth" culturally based? What is "true science"? Can there be more than one truth? Whose questions is science answering? 7. What resources are out there? How can we network? What shall we do fur the rest of the serncster and how do \re give studcnts n voirc in thc curriculum?
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After progressing this far i n t h e semester, a number of topics were selected for further discussion. We list them now i n their order of interest a s ranked by t h e seminar participants:
(1) Issues that students of color face: What are these? How do these play out in students' classroom experiences? Their choice to study chemistrv? 12, Teachml: ~tylejnaarnmastyles In what d~ffplpnt wnvs do people prefer m learn" What IS useful to know about when teaching? (3) Practicalities in the classmom: How do we teach? What specifically can teachers do to promote inclusiveness? How might they inadvertently alienate some in the class? What cultural differences are relevant to the dassroam setting? (4) Politics: Who defmes what is taught (i.e., the curriculum)? Whose concerns does science address? Who gets to decide what is and is not science?What power does the language of science hold? The first issue was addressed by inviting a number of undergraduate students to t h e seminar and listening to their observations a n d experiences. Prior to actually meeti n g with t h e undergraduates, a class period was spent working out what questions we would ask, how we would ask them, and what we wanted to be sensitive to i n the questioning process. Teaching and learning styles were addressed next. Students assessed their own learning styles, compared these with norms for a variety of professions, a n d designed exercises to match o r mismatch with particular styles. Toward t h e end of the semester, students presented reports on particular chemical topics and how these might be approached i n a manner t h a t was culturally inclusive. The practicalities and politics of teaching were addressed during the course of these The semester ended by revisiting the question of t h e first week, "What do race and ethnicity have to do with thermodynamics?" Students compared their initial reactions to t h e questions to those at t h e end of t h e semester.
Annotated Bibliography The authors were able to find no single text that was a p p r o priate for this wurse, a s noted previously. I n the absence of a single text, numerous bonks and journal articles were utilized fmm fields such a s curriculum and instruction. educational policy, feminism, history of science, psychology, and sociology. An extensive biblioera~hvis available u w n reauest. ReDresentative titles are K s t e d h Table 1. Evaluation and Future Directions At the close of t h e semester, we asked students to write on t h e topic: Ifyou were to imagine yourself as a chemistry professor o r teacher, how might this course have influenced your teaching? Student responses included: As a teacher I feel I will be much more involved now in getting to know my students as people. This can help increase my class awareness ofjust haw much each person has ta offer, As the course progressed, I began to see that race, ethnicity, diversity, and chemistry don't fit together that neatly.
This class has made me more aware, more open to issues of diversity . . .Trying to grant students of color the power to ask, the Dower to define is oerhans the most imoartant thine an instrucuw can do. . . . 11 vahdates studentu'needs and provides us wi~hfood for rhought-x even new ovmurs of research. Imagine myself as a chemistry professor! That's what I've been doing all semester. . . . one of the things that needs [my1 imrrrovement is mv zettine to h o w the students better. Without that, you can't;&lly domuch in regards to cultural variety; race, ethnieity, ete. We also asked for more direct feedback on the course. including w h a t participants liked best a n d w h a t the; would like to chancre. The feedback was uniformlv ~ositive. with a number oflstudents commenting t h a t tkcy would
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like to wntinne working on these ideas in the future. One student commented: I feel all teachers could benefit from this type of course. . . . It seems as though many education courses aren't dealing with these issues. . . [ones]that should be contemplated by each and every teacher at all levels of education.
Not unexpectedly, this course raised more questions than i t answered. A more in-depth report of the specific course topics and the issues they raised is now in preparation. We invite the participation and contributions of others who are working on this or related topics.
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Acknowledgment The development of this course was supported in part by a grant from the University of Wisconsin System Institute on Race and Ethnicity. Literature Cited 1. Juergens, FDiuCHEDNewakuer, Spring 1991.19. 2. See, for example, recent issue ofthe ChmnleleafXigher Edumfiol.Articles appear rm slmost a weekly baais. Dinah D'soueaisIllibeml Education (Ym* Boob. trade. 19911offers mtiqueofthe 3. Pearson. W.; Bechtel. H.K Block, S c i r m , and Amerimn Edueotion. Rutgem Uni. versity Pms: New J e w 1989,p 1. 4. Belenk7.M. F.; Clinchy, B. M . ; G o l d b q ~ , N . R . ; T s d eJ.M. , Women's WoyaofKnowi w ; Basic Bmks: New Yorh 1986, p 215. 5. Cordan, E. W.;Mliler,F.;Rolloek, D. Educ. I(rs. IssO, 19131.15.
