T.HE
WORDING of the title might justify me in treating the subject in ~ t broader s aspects, but others have done this better. For instance, J. 0. Frank of Wisconsin has consulted authoritative sources and compiled the following as things that we, as chemistry teachers, are trying to do: (1) to instruct our students, (2) to train them, (3) to inspire them, (4) to give them the discipline of scientific method, (5) to give them the power to interpret, (6) to aid in exploration and guidance, and (7) to help them find recreation in chemistry. H. R. Smith in the JOURNAL oa CHEMICAL EDUCATION for July, 1925,' reports that the Chicago Association of Chemistry Teachers has formulated the following objectives in teaching chemistry: (1) to bring about as soon as possible the pupil's appreciation of training in scientific method and chemical knowledge, (2) to teach pupils the understanding and use of the scientific method of solving problems, (3) the correlation of facts to build a unit of knowledge (a principle or law), (4) application of principles and laws to new situations in the solving of daily problems (vocational and leisure time education), (5) cooperation in community groups to promote human welfare, and (6) development of moral law and religious attitude in daily life.
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OBJECTIW~ M TEACHING CHE~STRY
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But I am supposed to represent the high and other preparatory schools of the eastern states and to bring to you some ideas of the objectives governing teachers in the east. This is somewhat hard to do because conditions vary so from large city high schools with the best of equipment and conditions to small country high schools with almost no facilities. It is probably fair to say that the objectives of eastern teachers are not far from those mentioned above, thus showing that we are all of one large family in the chemical education problem. Many eastern teachers do have as an extra objective fitting their students for the entrance examinations to higher institutions of the non-state university type. One very encouraging aspect of the situation is that during the past two decades chemistry teachers in high schools have been waking up, striking out for themselves, trying new ideas of their own, and breaking away from the college entrance requirements in an effort to make the teaching of secondary-school chemistry a profession by itself. As an example of this may he mentioned the activities of the New England Association of Chemistry Teachers, which has now for over tweutyfive years been holding without break from four to twelve meetings per year and printing full reports of the meetings. Four problems stand out prominently in the high-school chemistry teacher's job: (1) improvement in text-book writing, (2) the best handling of the college preparatory and of the non-college preparatory classes, (3) better teaching, and (4) the correlation of the laboratory with the rest of the work. The text-hook is a serious problem. Many of the best sellers are built too plainly on the requirements of the College Board and on the New York Regents, two very powerful agencies in the East in determining what shall be taught in high school. All deductions from tables of per cent of text devoted to theory, description, applications, etc. (such as those by Cornog and by other investigators) must be made with the above in mind. Inconsistency in existing texts is well illustrated by the fact that six of the widely used texts give six different formulae for the laws of Boyle and of Charles, four different methods of solving stoicbiometrical problems, and display a woeful lack of accuracy and consistency in definitions of terms. It is refreshing to see books appearing which are written by high-school teachers conversant with the situation and which are built around the needs of the pupil. One has very recently appeared, written by a teacher on the Atlantic coast, one by teachers of the middle states, and one very admirable text by teachers of this immediate Pacific coast region. Should students not going to college be grouped with the college candidates and be given the specialized training required of the latter? Where 90 per cent of the students do not go on to college, this is a serious problem, and it has given rise to courses of widely differing character and content.
996
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
NovEmEn, 1925
It is now recognized that both classes of students need the fundamentals of the science. It is the aim of the A. C. S. Outline of HighSchool Chemistry and of the new revision of the College Board Chemjstry Requirements to reduce the amount of the essentials so that all students can get these in about two-thirds of a year. The rest of the year can then be devoted to such phases of the subject as are particularly suited to the personnel of the class or the nature of the locality. (See the first and second objectives governing the A. C. S. Committee on Chemical Education on EDUCATION.) page 87 of the May, 1924, issue of the JOURNAL OP CHEMICAL There is a growing tendency on the part of colleges to favor such a plan as i t will obviate a considerable amount of reteaching. It will also help solve the high-school chemistry teacher's problem, and will give more credit for work well done in high school. Better teaching goes hand in hand with better teachers. In too many schools the chemistry teacher has to teach too many other subjects, and sometimes he has not specialized in chemistry in college. Some authorities are beginning to recognize this point, but much remains to be done to remedy this serious defect. B. S. Hopkins has well said: "A good teacher is the most important factor in any chemical course of study. Expensive laboratories, elaborate equipment, costly reference libraries, superior textbooks, and skillfully arranged courses of study are of little value in the teaching of chemist~yunless they are presided over and administered by the mind of an individual who knows and loves chemistry and who has some skill in the science and art of imparting his knowledge to others." For the benefit of such teachers whose college work did not fit them directly for the profession of high-school chemistry teaching, summer courses are of great value. That the teachers value these opportunities is shown by the fact that the attendance at such a course in one large eastern institution jumped from about 10 last year to nearly 50 this year. As to content implied in better teaching these items might be mentioned. Teach general principles so far as possible and let each new experiment or new reaction illustrate some general principle. H. F. Davison says that lecture experiments should "drive home general methods and general principles as much as possible" instead of being merely spectacular. Further, teaching too many isolated facts leads to confusion. Therefore group the facts as much as possible. Use the Periodic System if you love this tool. Some think the electromotive series or displacement series a better aid, in that i t teaches or classifies among many other things (1) the occurrence of metals as free or combined, (2) general methods of metallurgy, and (3) the reactions between a metal and acids. If you teach much on metals, group the metallurgy around the four general methods of extraction, instead of letting the student get the idea that
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OBTECTIVES IN TEACHING CHEMISTRY
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each metal has a method of extraction all its own, very different from that of all other methods. The proper function of the laboratory and the correlation of its work with the text and recitation was recently considered of such importance by the New England Association of Chemistry Teachers as to warrant a voluminous questionnaire covering about 200 specified items. The result was a 45 page report printed by the Association giving a careful analysis of the answers from 100 representative teachers. It is impossible in the time a t my disposal even to summarize the results of this questionnaire. Instead let me simply urge the following as highly desirable: (1) Laboratory work to accompany the text-book, for unfortunately there still exist schools where chemistry is taught without laboratory work, (2) the proper order of laboratory and text-book work, (3) the proper proportion of time devoted to each, (4) the most appropriate and efficient selection of experiments to avoid play in the laboratory and to form the proper underpinning for a body of chemical knowledge, ( 5 ) inclusion of the right amount of quantitative experiments, (6) more educative guidance by the teacher in the laboratory, (7) sufficient time for the teacher to prepare for the laboratory work, (8) development of scientific methods of thinking or reasoning rather than allowing the laboratory period to be a period of mechanical test-tubing, (9) giving full clock hour credit to both student and teacher for the laboratory period, because an hour honestly and faithfully spent in laboratory work and properly supervised, guided and quizzed is worth an hour to both teacher and pupil, (10) a fair inspection of the note-book, and (11) the recognition that solid chemical knowledge is best gained from personal contact with the chemicals and their reactions followed by proper digestion of the facts thus obtained. WILHELM SEGERBLOM
PHILLIPS EXETER ACADEMY. EXETBR. N. H.
