Jeff C. Davis, Jr.' and Paul Westmeyer The University of Texas Austin
I I
h n Antonio ith001 Chemistry Project An experiment in learning a n d cooperation
The recent emergence of completely new courses in chemistry such as the CHEM Study and CBA programs has given impetus to numerous teacher-training institutes, generally in prescribed formats such as the NSF In-Service Institutes, Academic Year Institutes, and intensive summer courses. We wish to report a year-long program of somewhat different character which was highly successful in terms of motivating the teachers involved and enriching their high school teaching. I n response to a request from the San Antonio Independent School District to prepare their teachers to use the CHEM Study course materials, two consecutive projects were organized in the traditional forms of a one-semester in-service institute which would cover fundamentals and a one-semester designing-writing project in which new materials would be tested and prepared. Both programs were supported by funds from NSF. After several meetings it became apparent that a more fruitful program would result from a merging of the two projects so that laboratory work, instruction in funda-
' Present address: Department of Chemistry, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620.
mentals, and creative design and testing of new materials could be accomplished in subject area units paralleling, and slightly preceding, the subject matter taught in the San Antonio schools. I n brief, the essential pattern for each subject unit of the program included (1) laboratory experiments, frequently adopted from the CHEM Study and CBA programs, in which the basic experimental facts and generalizations of the subject were discovered by the participants themselves; (2) discussions, lectures, films, and demonstrations in which these facts were organized and in which theoretical models were introduced; (3) exploration in the laboratory and discussions of the utility and the failings of these models; (4) discussion of classroom approach of the topic; (5) preparation of materials, if needed, to supplement the high school text; and (6) evaluation after treatment in the classroom. A number of papers were written by the project staff and by the participants and prepared in quantity for classroom use. Approximately 2000 high school students were thus directly involved in the project. All all times flexibility in the use of new materials was emphasized rather than on a single, rigid course of study. The directors would be pleased to supply copies of a more complete summary of the project to those interested in the details of the program.
Volume 43, Number 2, Februory 1966
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