Shirley E. Richardson Torrey Pines High School Del Mar. CA 92014
Report of the Symposium on High School Instructional Interface Modernization, restructuring and improvement of chemistry teaching
As our first full-day symposium on the college-high school interface came to a close, we found many concerns in common expressed by the representatives of various countries--Japan, Canada, Australia, and the United States of America. For example, our communities no longer stress the need for the production of specialized scientists because only a minor nwcentaee of the students who are educated on the high . school and college levels have goals in the pure sciences. As a larger nercentaee of our oooulations comolete secondary .. school and coll&e, the need is growing tokducate for enlightened citizenshio and a diversitv. of goals, using chemistry . a i a tool to these ends. Even technical chemists arerequesting more experiences on the high school and college levels in communication and in the search for information. We have a ereat need for descriptive chemistry. When students are tested a t the college level, research indicates a weakness in the area of descriptive chemistry. More hands-on experiences are needed to help a larger cross-section of our students to obtain skills and develop hetter attitudes toward chemistrv and toward science in eeneral. T o imorove laboratory exprricncc the Jal)ancs~> government has 1)wn accenting the wulwnetlt needsofthe hich st.hcn,li with the result that now e i c i school has a t least &e chemistry laboratory. This new accent on laboratory work may be areaction to adeclining interest in chemistry in a nation where chemistry has been quite popular until recently. To improve chemistry courses high school teachers and universitv orofessors have been working together to loosen the content s i t h a t a more conceptual approach may he used, with time for problem solving and discovery experiences. Examinations are being reconiidered to allow the less science-oriented student to feel a sense of achievement rather than frustration. Yet there is a concern that more aot science students he given freedom to do advanced work. noth her concern is the need to nrovide exoeriences in chemistrv for blind students. Although there is no formal training for chemistry teachers of the blind, it has been demonstrated that techniques and equipment may he devised to transfer impressions of precipitates, gases, and color into sounds and touch. In the United States of America federal legislation is running in the direction of aiding the handicapped in science classrooms. A brochure of "Chemical Education in Japan" (printed in English) was distributed to members of the Division of Chemical Education. This booklet outlined the history, present status of education and hopes for the future, and was an excellent addition to our svmoosium. Jaoan is currentlv -~~~ -~~~~ . . researching the course content of their high school chemistry classes. aimine toward the discoverv method like that found in ~ m e i i c a nprojects such as CHEM Study and the Chemical Bond Anoroach. In Jaoan teachers are given time and finances .. I < ,rewarch experimrntation at the high s ~ h w level. l ('unudian u n i w r v t ~ e sha\,e ren,gn~zedthe need for an "open door" policy to encourage high school teachers to communicate with the college professors through workshops, open-line telephone information service, and visits of professors to high school campuses as substitutes and as speakers. This program is aimed a t mutual respect and cooperation between high school and college chemistry teachers. While university know-how in facts and concepts are flowing toward the high school level, the college educators are recognizing a need to learn teaching techniques from the secondary levels. New technology is enabling hoth levels to teach a variety of
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602 I Journal of Chemical Education
ways, and to perhaps teach more efficiently. We recognize that showmanship has always been valuable a t all levels of education. Students love to see colors, precipitates, gases and enjoy explosions. However, it was noted that teachers should also he aware that students receive such classroom experiences through individual filters.. . in many different ways. Australia, as well as the other countries represented in this symposium, finds a variety in the levels of their high schools due to local influences, and the Australians are trying to make education more uniform. "Chemistry, Key to the Earth" is a high school text used in Victoria (published in 1977) which mav. helo. to make Australian education more uniform. A trend has begun to accent descriptive and industrial chemistry, to blend education and industry with up-to-date technical material. New courses, based upon patterns similar to those of CHEM Study and the Chemical Bond Approach, but accenting Australian technology, are being developed for the high school level. In the United States of America secondary schools have chemistry as an elective course which is usually taken after biology. Some school districts can intimidate a teacher so that he or she may not use certain teaching techniques. However, the secondarv level offers some freedom to design one's own Iwoyram and tode\.inte fn,m the currirulum n i the need arlsri. (;iited students in many schools arc pnwided o p p o r u ~ n ~ t ~ e % to enroll in advanced cburses. These courses include guest lecturers, field trips, research, seminars, and many career experiences. Japanese high schools as well as American schools find a need for better mathematical preparation prior to chemistry courses. At the college level one finds a better performance in
Mar, California;is the 19% recipient of the American Chemical Saeietv's dames
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Study). In 22 years as a teacher she has become noted for her quality of teaching. her ability to ehallen& and inmire stu-1 dents, and her many educational and social services. While carrying a full teaching load in chemistry, she also serves as chairman of the science department. She has been district science chairman for
Mrs. Richardson has created numerous LAPS-learning packages in applied chemistry-on such topics as food addiLives. textiles. and cosmetics.These have been written durinr
equipment in teaching and for creating their own supplementary visual aids. This article is from the summary she presented at the close of the full-day symposium on the High School Instruction Interface which was chaired by M. Gardner and Y. Tani~aki.
chemistry if students have strong backgrounds in mathematics and physics on the high school level. I close this summary on a personal note. I wish to express a "thank-you" to the American Chemical Society for the James B. Conant Award and for the beautiful ceremony entailed in receiving this award. In a year of travail a t the high school level in California, with funding questionable and salary negotiations in turmoil, I have traveled professionally in a rosey cloud because of the honor of this award. Also, the prestige of the James B. Conant award has impressed my local administrators so that they are looking a t my work in a new light. I sense that the members of my local American Chemical Society section have been watching over me during my
teaching career (and I am sure many other high school chemistry teachers feel this way about their local chapters). High school chemistry classes have been enriched by the CHEM Study and Chemical Bond Approach projects in which ACS members worked. I personally have been encouraged by local chemistry professors to take summer institutes in new teaching techniques. Industrial scholarships, such as the Shell Merit fellowship, have helped to train me in audio-tutorial techniques. And I am grateful to our local ACS section which has labored over the years to provide high school examinations which allow capable students to demonstrate their achievements in chemistry. Thank you, American Chemical Society, for caring.
Volume 56, Number 9, September 1979 / 603
