RESEARCH PROBLEMS for SECONDARY SCHOOL PUPILS VERNE R. ROSS Technical High School, Springfield, Massachusetts
Simple problems within the scope of ability of high-school types of problems-laboratory and library developwtat. ptlfils are s e k t e d for inwestigation by the more intelligent The work of these case studies was carried on several pupils. The objective i s not the production of finished re- years ago and later achievement of the pup& observed. search problems, but the development of the unusual pupil. Their work i n high school was a forerunner of later sucFive case studies are giwa. These are typical of two cess in science or engineering.
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URING the last quarter century the science of chemistry has been presented to thousands of pupils in the secondaty schools of the nation. Although this science appeals to the interests of the great mass of boys and girls in a manner more or less satisfying to their curiosity, it is only occasionally that the individual appears to whom chemistry presents a great challenge. Such a pupil enters its study with an enthusiasm that, even in his high-school days, carries him to heights of achievement which in their perspective give him a view of the science and its possibilities. He is tired with an ambition to enter this field and find his life work. The pupil of this description is usually of superior intelligence, and his personality is such that he is not satisfied with the ordinary and average achievement of his fellows. Mastering the essentials readily, he has a surplus of energy that may be directed into channels which will develop him into an individual who wiU attain distinction in adult life, and who will make original contributions to knowledge and human welfare. To the chemistry instructor is presented the challenge of inspiring such latent ability and developing these poteutial scientists so that they may take a place in that line which continues and develops knowledge. It has been the good fortune of the author to have had contact, through many years of teaching experience, with several of these superior pupils and to have, in a measure, guided them into the great opportunities of chemical science and its related fields. This experience has been in Covina Union High School, located in one of the major citrus-producing districts of Southern California. Chemistry was taught in the junior year of high school, a t which time potential talent was discovered. Nearly every year a limited number of outstanding pupils was discovered, and they were encouraged to begin the study of physics in their senior year. This subject was also taught by the author. The scientific interests of these pupils was so intense that they were willing to work on special
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problems before and after school hours and above and beyond the required curriculum. The laboratories were unusually well equipped by a sympathetic superintendent and school board, and furnished facilities for the investigation of simple problems. In all projects of this nature the objective has not been the production of finished research problems in chemistry, hut rather the development of the individual pupil. Starting with the native curiosity of the student, his superior intellectual endowment and his surplus energy we have made an attempt to utilize these factors of personality in the formation of a character and the production of an individual who can take a place worthy of his talents in the life of the world. The community being primarily devoted to citriculture, many simple yet interesting problems are found in this industry or its related activities which are within the range of investigation of a superior highschool pupil. It is the duty of the instructor to lead the pupil to a discovery of these problems and inspire him to a pursuit of their study. Along with the development of a scientific attitude on the part of the pupils there have been isolated instances in which they have made scientific contributions of some value. Illustrative of results obtained five typical case stndies are selected from many that have been produced. During the progress of an individual problem, reference work has been encouraged and laboratory notebooks kept. The results of the work were always written in the form of a thesis, giving methods, data tables, illustrations and drawings, references cited, and bibliographies. CASE I-"A STUDY OF SOAP POWDERS USED I N SPRAYING CITRUS TREES FOR BLACK SCALE CONTROL''
An early method for the control of black scale iuvolved the use of soap powders as the active constituent of sprays. Occasionally damage resulted to
foliage and fruit. This study undertook a determination of the source of this damage. In an attack on the problem an analysis was made of three brands of soap powders determining moisture, free alkali, total alkali combined with fatty acid, alkali combined as carbonate, combined fatty acids, and insoluble matter. Standard solutions were prepared, titrations carried on, the analytical balance mastered and usual chemical manipulations used. In order to carry on the laboratory work and become familiar with the general aspects of the problem i t was necessary to do much reference work from a library standpoint. From the compositions of the soaps as determined analytically it was possible to prepare solutions of their individual constituents comparable to concentrations used in commercial products. To determine which of these were harmful to foliage, controlled plots of young wheat and oat plants were sprayed. Sodium carbonate was found to be the harmful constituent. This project was carried on during the school year 191415. The boy responsible for its prosecution was one of those outstanding individuals who are a joy to any teacher. On the completion of his highschool course he entered Pomona College where he received the A.B. and A.M. degrees. His graduate work involved a Ph.D. degree from Harvard University followed by a year of study in Germany. During all this time chemistry was his major. At present he is a professor of chemistry a t a leading Pacific Coast university. Within recent weeks he has been recognized as one of the outstanding research men in the field of chemistry by being awarded $2500 from a famous scientific foundation for detailed research in a very definite field. Although he has published many papers giving the results of his chemical researches he has stated that this high-school problem was, in its limited way, as much of a research project as any of his later studies.
time was found to be required for the orange to mature after the color had begun to turn from green to yellow. The fruit on the south side of the tree matured about three weeks in advance of that on the north side. The boy responsible for this project was a brother of the one described in Case I. He did the work in the school year 1918-19. He attended Pomona College where he received the A.B. degree, went to Harvard for the Ph.D., and followed this with a year in Germany. At present he is a professor in a leading Western institution. In addition to his teaching duties he carries on an extensive research program and has many publications to his credit.
The removal of the orange trees from a five-acre plot for the development of a new athletic field presented the opportunity of determining the relative proportions of fruit, leaves, wood, and roots in a tree. A mature tree seventeen feet tall was selected and all the leaves picked and weighed. The branches and trunk were cut, the stump and roots pulled, and each weighed. Leaf. snrface was determined by fitting samples of leaves into a two square foot pattern on a table top and thus determining the weight of a given area of leaf surface. The make-up of the tree was found to be eleven per cent. leaves, fifty-fiveper cent. wood, twenty-three per cent. roots, and eleven percent. fruit. The entire leaf surface was calculated as 2333 square feet. To this point the work was largely mechanical. The laboratory aspects involved the determination of the per cent. of moisture, ash, and organic matter in the leaves, fruit, hark, wood, and roots, and qualitative tests which revealed the presence of twelve elements and radicals. The boy who pursued this problem did it in the school year 192425. He wasoneof the few who didnot gointo science or engineering as a life work. He attended a professional school for two years and then entered business in his home community. The advent of the Garvan Prize Essays in Chemistry offered to high-school students a reward of $20 in gold Oranges are legally ripe when the ratio of total acids in each of six divisions for each state in the Union and (as citric) to total soluble solids is 1 to 8. This study six national prizes equivalent to $500 per annum and undertook a determination of the rate of development tuition in any standard university for four years. The of this ratio, along with the rate of growth of the preparation of these essays was largely from a library orange. The laboratory work called for the prepara- and reference standpoint and did not involve laboratory tion of standard solutions, the use of the analytical work. The rewards held out by this contest had a balance and the Brix hydrometer. The acid content great appeal to students. The nature of the essays of the fruit juice was determined by titration and the somewhat modified the activities of the science departsoluble solids by the hydrometer, and, as an occasional ment of Covina Union High School in its attempts to check, the use of a pycnometer. In the field work utilize the energies of ambitious pupils. Laboratory definite orange trees, both navel and valencia, were work not being a part of the contest conditions, this selected in a normal grove. On these trees individual phase of the activities was not pushed during the years oranges were labeled and their growth was determined the Garvan Contest was held. Several students wrote by periodically measuring the circumference with a essays each year and the school was for five successive steel tape. Fruit from the immediate neighborhood years represented by winners in the state contest and of these marked samples was picked and the acid con- one took second place in a division of the national content and soluble solids determined. About two months' test. Cases four and five are selected from these papers.
ond place in the national contest. The paper was published in the California Citrograph and the National The boy who treated this subject was an ardent Chemistry Pamphlets. The boy who wrote this paper entered the field of amateur photographer and built his essay on his intermedicine, receiving the A.B. degtee from Stanford est. He developed the topic from the historical side, University and the M.D. from Harvard. He made illustrating the document with exhibits showing various stages in the growth of the industry. Through the brilliant scholastic records in each institution. At prespaper the part that chemistry played was stressed. In ent he is serving an internship in a Boston hospital. the preparation of the paper a large volume of reference He has published the results of several research probwork was required and the boy went to original sources lems in the field of physiology. These five case studies are those which stand out from in many cases. The paper won first place in its division many others. Among these have been problems which in California and a gold eagle for its author. were concerned with testing a dairy herd for quality and This boy, an American, came to high school from his quantity of milk, a study of the mineral content of irrihome in Central Mexico and returned there on the completion of his course, entering the employ of an iuterna- gation water from various sources, a comparison of comtional mining corporation. He has pursued photog- mercial brands of gasoline, the composition of the carraphy as a hobby and has won recognition in several bon deposit in the cylinder of an automobile engine, the national and international exhibitions. From the test- deterioration of the cylinder oil in the crankcase of an ing laboratory of the mining company he has advanced automobile engine, and attempts a t its regeneration. by successive steps to a responsible executive position. Through all the projects the development of the individual was the primary objective. In most cases the boys who made these studies have gone into some type of scientific or engineering work and have achieved beyond This paper gave a complete description of the scien- the level of the average high-school graduate. If we subscribe to that philosophy of education whicb tific aspects of the citrus industry dwelling particularly on the contribution of chemistry in fertilization, pest says that school is life, these pupils have been endowed control, and the development of by-products. These a t the high-schoollevel with a superior quality and quanlatter have become a vital source of income dealing with tity of intelligence and have in this respect stood on a fruit that is not up to standards of commerce. For- plane above their fellows. There can be little doubt merly it went to waste. Chemistry has developed this but that their work on these extra-curricular projects industry, and definitely supervisesits operation. In the gave to them a challenge to use their superior intellipreparation of this paper anextensivesearchof thelitera- gence and in a measure trained them for superior ture was made, conferences were held with leaders in achievement in adult life. The discovery of such pupils and the possibility of the industry and visits made to industrial plants dealing withcitrus products. This paper was written in 1927-28, their development is a privilege knocking a t the door of and took first place in its division in California and sec- every chemistry teacher in the land.
