PACIFIC SOUTHWEST ASSOCIATION OF CHEMISTRY TEACHERS
W. A. WOODS Research Corporation, Santa Monica, California
WHAT place should research activity occupy in the collegiate teaching of the physical sciences? As field representative for a foundation which provides grants for research in this area, the writer has heard many answers to this question. Chemistry and physics faculty members generally feel that research is essential t o proper teaching, and most of the younger ones valiantly strive t o carry on this activity despite severe obstacles. College and university administrators also generally appear to support the idea of research by their science faculties, although there may sometimes be a lack of understanding of what such activity actually entails and a concomitant lack of encouragement in tangible form. The only real opposition observed within science departments has been on the part of older staff members who have completely lost touch with progress and appear t o have developed an inferiority complex so far as research is concerned. Fortunately these are rare, and the remaining few are less and less effective in discouraging the introduction of research programs. Perhaps the greatest obstacle to increasing academic research is the confusion that exists as to what ''research" really is. The word has become very popular in the postwar era and has been applied to many activities which were formerly identified by other names. While this popularity has its bright side, it seems unfortunately true that the classical meaning is in danger of being submerged in the faddistic semantics of the day. Much of this difficulty stems from the successful use of faculty personnel for the development of new scientificweapons during the last war, and the programs of "contract research" which followed. In contracting for research, military agencies have sponsored projects of wide variety, ranging from the purest fundamental studies to the actual construction of weapons. I n all cases the agency was, in effect, "buying" results, either in the form of new knowledge or of actual "hardware." As a purchaser it was willing to pay a share of the salary of those faculty members engaged in the work and to pay a reasonable "overhead" charge to the institution. This procedure was welcomed by college administrators who were hard pressed to meet ever-increasing costs and by faculty scientists who were eager to be associated with important research programs. Much of the work so sponsored has been fundamental and completely compatible with academic ideals, and credit is due the administrators of these programs for their enlightened policies. From the over-all viewpoint, however, some undesirable side effectshave resulted. There has been a natural tendency for the contracts to go to the larger 98
universities for projects under the supervision of faculty members of established reputation, since this appeared to offer the greatest return on the invested funds. Other faculty members either joined the team that was organized to carry out the contract or found themselves without research support. Contractual obligations sometimes required elaborate accounting and reporting procedures. Graduate students were attracted to those projects which paid the highest research assistant salaries without regard to their suitability as thesis research. Smaller institutions and especially institutions which specialize in teacher training were generally considered unsuitable for contract research. The coucept that research by the individual science faculty member is an essential part of his scholarly activities seemed in danger of becoming lost. However, the outlook for research as an appropriate part of the academic activity of physical science departments appears brighter today than ever before. The National Science Foundation has established programs for the support of research which seem to be suited to academic needs, in keeping with the purposes for vhich Congress established this organization. Industrial corporations and associations also appear to be increasingly interested in the support of true academic research. Private foundations and philanthropic individuals continue to encourage scholarly activities in all disciplines of higher learning. RESEARCH ESSENTIAL TO EFFECTIVE TEACHING
Research Corporation, the foundation for which the writer is field representative in the western states, has consistently held the premise that research is essential to effective teaching of the physical sciences and has provided grants for the assistance of research appropriate to this point of view. It has been somewhat unique in encouraging the establishment of research in the smaller liberal arts and teacher training colleges. It has also provided assistance for the young faculty member to initiate research a t the start of his teaching career in large as well as small institutions. I n doing this it has not attempted to "buy" research results but rather to "buy" more and better scientists through improved teaching and the stimulation which sound research inevitably brings to both teacher and student. The grants are made as gifts to assist the college or university in research activity which is an appropriate part of its over-all academic program. As such they do not provide for routine costs, faculty salary, or overhead but make available funds for those required items of apparaJOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
tus and supplies which are not normally found in the college laboratories and stockrooms. They also provide, where appropriate, reasonable stipends for student participants. This Frederick Gardner Cottrell program, in its more than ten years of existence, has effectively demonstrated the benefits of sound research as an integral part of the teaching program in the physical sciences. I t is named after the founder of Research Corporation who was himself a chemistry teacher at the University of California from 1902 to 1911. During this period he invented the process of electrical precipitation of particles from gases which bears his name. His idealism, and that of his associates, led to the establishment of Research Corporation as a non-profit organization to exploit this invention and use the earnings for the advancement of science. Through this program of grants-in-aid many college administrators have been made aware of the fact that experimentation in the laboratory is as essential to the teachers of chemistry and physics as the study of musical scores is to the teacher of music or the reading of literature is to the teacher of language. Gifted young teachers have decided to remain in academic careers despite the lure of the higher salaries of industrial positions largely because they mere able to conduct research of their own choosing. Students who might have turned to other fields have learned the fascination of exploring the unknown in science and are now dedicated to scientific careers.
student laboratory, and they have reported difficulty a t times due to distraction from curious students. This curiosity is very welcome and has resulted in an unusually high degree of student participation in the work. Word of the grant and of progress of the study has received wide distribution and excellent reception on the campus. The president of the college has publicly commended the investigators for their initiative, and the science division has achieved a more important position in the eyes of other divisions than it previously held. Assistance for the initiation of chemistry research projects has been provided to five of the state colleges in California (Fresno, Long Beach, Sacramento, San Diego, and San Francisco), Eastern New Mexico University, and New Mexico Highlands University. The training of public school teachers is a primary. function of all of these institutions. The studies so assisted include: Identification of Carbonyl Compounds by Means of the Optical and Crystdogrsphie Properties of the Semicarhazones Syntheses of 6-t-Butylpseudocumene and 2-t-Butyl-4,6dimethylaoetophenone and their Nitration Products The Exchange Reaction Between Tin(1V) and Tin(I1) Bromides in Absolute Alcohol and Other Solvents Preparation of Substituted Beneamidszoles Reductions With Hydra~ineHydrate Catalyzed by Rsney Nickel Reaction of Hydroxylamine With Unsaturated Acids and Esters
RESEARCH DESIRABLE FOR TEACHER TRAINING
Several publications have resulted from these studies, and in most cases research is continuing and has become firmly established as a part of the academic program. The present public demand for improvement in high school science teaching is being felt in teacher training institutions. In some, excellent cooperative programs have been worked out between the education and science departments which are resulting in improved training for prospective science teachers. Despite these favorable trends, the position of scientific research remains precarious in these institutions, and efforts aimed at improving the situation should receive enthusiastic support from all scientists. It is to be hoped that state legislatures, boards, and administrators will review the conditions in their colleges and attempt to improve the facilities, adjust the teaching loads, and revise unrealistic or outmoded policies in order to make sound research an accepted part of the college science teachers program
Perhaps the one area where there is continuing need for emphasis on the desirability of research is the teacher training institutions. The traditional feeling in many of these is that science is relatively unimportant and that research is a luxury that is not appropriate to their program. One hears the term "teaching institution" used frequently to distinguish them from "research institutions." Yet in the science departments of some of these where research has become established, there is great interest on the part of students and improved prestige for the investigator and his department. An example of this may be found at Colorado State College at Greeley, Colorado. Early in 1956 Research Corporation awarded a grant to this college to assist a study of reaction rates of selected organolithium compounds with ethers by Professors John A. Bee1 and William G. Koch. There being no laboratory available, the investigators have carried out the project in one end of a
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'6 It is my conviction that creative abilities are notprimarily a gift of the gods, but rather are the fruits of opportunity, stimulation, and growth. "An amlysi. of almost all the psychological tests ever made points to the conclusion that creative talent is normally distributed-that all of uspossess this talent to a lesser or greater d e g r e e a n d that our creative eficiency caries more in ratio to our output of mental energy than in ratio to our inborn talent. People who are creatively a l e r t . see not only what is, but what might be.
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VOLUME 35, NO. 2, FEBRUARY, 1958
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