Introduction Without doubt, this was the best conference on chemical education that I have attended. It was my first. Still, I can't imagine that the others were hetter. From the generous and appetizing food to the balmy weather-not to mention the sessions-the arrangements were superb. The speakers entertained as well as informed and the discussion format provided opportunity for the audience to "Amen" their gods and curse their devils. Although it may sound like a shallow excuse, i t really isn't possible to prepare a report which captures the spirit of the conference or summarizes what took place. There were too many interesting ideas and provocative opinions to summarize in the terse language of our short report. The theme of the Conference was Participant-Paced Programming. From the fioe-minute presentations followed by fifteen-minute discussions to the free-wheeling poster papers, the participants were given the opportunity to get what they wanted rather than listening patiently as pre-wound presenters played out their normal 50-minute lectures. We have tried to maintain this spirit in the report. We have prepared eight summary papers dealing with major ideas that we gleaned from the Conference. We have made no attempt to give equal time to each paper but we have tried to call attention to ideas that caught our fancy or stimulated our thinking 'about chemical education. We hope that the report will provide similar stimulation for those who were unable to join us in Madison. We recognize that readers may want additional information about a particular paper and we have provided alist of papers along with some annotation at the end of each report so that
4 / Journal of Chemical Education
you can write for papers of interest. We hope that the authors of paoers and the readers of this report will understand that . . our failure to discuss a paper in detail is not n judgmenr ot its rplntiv~,worth. 'l'hcv wcrr all wad. W r onh wish that wc. hnd the space to give them the attention that they deserve. As I sat through the sessions and heard about techniaues for individualizing instruction that I would like to try,saw computer graphics that I would like to use, heard descriptions of coursesfo~nonsciencestudents that I would like tioffer, saw audio-visual techniques that were just right for the concept that I b y h t so potrrly last term, and listened to matt hes of his to^ that I understand sq, j r d v und the prc.irnter ipoke oiso rlihlv.. I was reminded of n stor\.ofren told t,\.Sum 1'0stlethwait of audio-tutorial fame. Sam tells of the West Virginia farmer who was approached by a new county agent as the farmer rested on his hoe at the end of arow of scraggly corn. "You really ought to come to the classes that I'm teaching on Monday night," said the agent. "I can tell you how to improve your farmmg so that you can grow twice as much corn on this hill." After only a moment's reflection, the farmer spat the arnheer from his cheeks and replied sotto uoce, " ~ h u i k sthat's , mighty nice of you to offer but I ain't farming half as good as I know how right now!" Those who wish a synopsis of all of the papers may purchase a book of summaries for $4.00 from the Fourth Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, University of Wiseonsin-Madison, 1101 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706. Audio cassettes of all presentations are also available.
Perhaps most of us went to the conference knowing that we weren't teaching "half as good as we know how;" those that did not, know it now. Before turning to the hody of the report, I wish to give credit where credit is due. Seventeen people agreed to act as reporters at the conference and of that number, eight brave souk agreed to pull together the ideas of their group into the papers that follow. The names of reporters are listed in the preceding acknowledgments in no order of importance because no such
order existed. They all did their jobs and did them well. If some spent more time and effort at the task than other-and some did-it was because there were more Daoers in one category than in another and a totally i ~ n ~ a n i eloud h wus impossit~ls.'l'o all seventeen of these indiv~duali1 rxtend my sincere thanks.
J. Dudley Herron Report Coordinator
Volume 54, Number 1. January 1977
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