The CONFERENCE PLAN of TEACHING GENERAL CHEMISTRY A. T. BAWDEN College of the Pacific, Stockton, California
Under the conference plan the student, with the advice of the teacher, selects the ktbook and type of course best au'upted to his pparious training and future needs. Each student progresses independently of his classmates.
Mastery of each unit of subject matter is acquired. Details of administration of the plan, results obtained in a year's trial, and the advantages of the plan as seen by the writer are summarized.
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ELF-EDUCATION under liberal supervision each lecture missed or not satisfactorily reported on seems to be the modern trend. The modern edu- by one method or another. cator thinks of the student as a fire to be kindled 2. Selection of text.-Ten texts are selected by the rather than as a vessel to be filled; be thinks of him- teacher so that among them they offer from two to self as the kindling spark rather than as the pitcher four different stages of advancement for different types from which knowledge is to be poured. of students. For example, chemistry majors and preFrequently students would profit more if they, medical students presenting a high-school course in rather than the teacher, prepared the lectures. The chemistry may select from the following texts: "A teacher should not try to do all of tbe work. The usual Textbook of Inorganic Chemistry," by Partington; lecture constitutes an example of filling the vessel with "General Chemistry," by Deming; "Principles of a vengeance, with doubtful results; it permits able General Chemistry," by Brinkley; or "College Chemstudents to learn enough to pass the course without istry," by Gordon. doing any work themselves. Students not majoring in science but interested in Recitations have some value, but frequently are a the appreciation of chemistry may select from: "An waste of time. Hearing others recite mistakes and re- Introduction to Chemistry," by Timm, or "The Spirit citing what one already knows also waste time. of Chemistry," by Findlay. The conference plan of teaching general chemistry The texts are then grouped for six different types of is an attempt to introduce into college teaching certain students as follows: educational principles and methods that have been 1. Appreciation 4. Nursing found successful in elementary and secondary educa2. Home Economics 5. Engineering tion. It is common knowledge that college and uui3. Physical Education 6. Chemistry Majors versity teachers have lagged behind in the adoption Dentistry Pre-medics of modern methods of teaching. Biology The conference plan is based on the idea that the There are two divisions in each group, depending on student is to be supplied with material that allows him to complete his work without dependence on or inter- whether or not the student presents a previous course ference from the teacher, on the unit-study plan of or- in chemistry. When the student enrols for the course, the teacher ganizing material, and on the idea that mastery of a little is better than a half-understanding of a lot of ma- holds a conference with him and fills out a card containing information as to his previous traiomg, home and terial. financial conditions, and interests. From this conOUTLINE O F THE CONPERENCE PLAN ference the student and teacher decide the group from which the text is to be selected. Then, some time durThe plan used by the author is as follows: 1. Lectures.-The whole class meets daily for the ing the first week, the students are given the Iowa k t two weeks for introductory lectures. During the Aptitude and Training Tests. From the resultant inrest of the year, one lecture-hour a week is used for lec- formation, plus the information contained on the aboveture demonstrations and the introduction of everyday mentioned card, the teacher can assign the text within applications. Its function is to secure the interest the group best suited to the ability of the student. of the student and to relate chemistry to modern life. There is still another factor to be considered; that is, The student selects a plan of deriving the most per- the work habits of the student. He is asked to write manent value from the lectures. Some students elect a short life history emphasizing his strong points and to take short quizzes on the lectures week by week. weaknesses. This usually aids the teacher in judging the student. Others elect to turn in written reports on the lectures. On the fly-leaf of each text is pasted a description One per cent. is deducted from the final grade for
of the book. The student selects his text after looking over the available ones in his group. He then discusses his selection with the teacher. Out of a class of forty students each of the ten texts was used by at least one student. In three cases, students changed texts during the course. general chemistry and 3. Laboratory work.-The qualitative analysis laboratory manuals vary according to the class texts selected. The laboratory is open every morning and afternoou, and students may work there a t any time during the open periods. The laboratory is the work room; it contains charts and large tables for the students' use. The teacher has his desk in the laboratory and either he or an assistant is present every day during certain hours. The experiments are performed in conuectiou with the study of the given section to which they are related. As soon as an experiment is completed and written up, it is checked by the teacher. If it is unsatisfactory in any respect, the student is directed to do more work. No section or unit quiz is permitted him until the laboratory assignments for the given section or unit have been completed. 4. Progress reports.-Each student is expected to report to the teacher in the laboratory at least twice weekly as to the progress he is making, whether anything bas been accomplished or not. Failure to make such a report counts as two absences. 5. Quiz and examination cards.--Questions are prepared on each text used. The text is divided into sections and units; usually a chapter constitutes a section. For each of these sections from four to eight sets of questions are prepared. All questions are on 5' by 8" cards, with a diierent color used for each text. All of the questions in the text, at the ends of the chapters, etc., are added to a list prepared by the teacher, and the questions are then divided among the cards. Each book is divided into five or ten units for each semester. There are from three to eight sets of examination questions prepared for each unit. Since the student has mastered the given section or unit by the time he can answer all of the questions (if they have been properly constructed), these question cards are available to the students in a file in the laboratory. When the student is ready for a section quiz or unit examination, the teacher simply selects one of the cards at random and gives it to him. The results are that the students use these cards extensively. Never before had the teachers succeeded in getting the students to work out the exercises in texts as they have done by this method. 6. Grading sys&m.-3uizzes are given over each section. They are graded plus or minus according to whether or not they are acceptable. If they are not acceptable, the student takes another quiz after further study. Such repetitious have not been frequent after the students become accustomed to the conference plan.
These quizzes are checked in the presence of the student. A quiz over an advance section is not permitted until the previous one has been accepted. A grade of at least 65 is required before a unit examination is accepted. The final grade on the unit is the average of the grades made on each examination taken over that unit. It is seldom necessary to repeat unit examinations. The final course grade is based on the unit examination grades and the final examination grade. Students are permitted to omit the section quizzes, provided they make satisfactory grades in the unit examinations. Where time is limited, it would be possible to omit all section quizzes; or the section quizzes could be administered by a student assistant, and the unit examinations given by the teacher. This would allow more time for student questions and problems. 7. Time for completion of the course.-The course may be completed any time before the close of the year's work, but it has been required that each semester's work be completed by the close of the semester. Smce the work is graded according to the student's needs and ability, there has been no case in which the work was completed more than four weeks before the close of the year. 8. Waiting list.-During the few busiest hours of the week, a waiting list plan was used. The teacher found that he was busy practically every minute he was in the laboratory. RESULTS
After a preliminary experiment a year ago with a selected group, the conference plan was used for all of the first-year chemistry students this year. At the close of the year, the teacher found that his students were better prepared than ever before. Somewhat more time was required of the teacher by this method. For this class, there would have been three lectures and two sections of two three-hour laboratory periods per week, in the usual method of cond@iug the course. In addition to this the teacher would have spent at least six hours a week on grading papers and notebooks. This would total at least 21 hours per week for the teacher or his assistants. Actually the teacher spent about 20 hours per week in the laboratory, while an assistant was present 8 hours per week. Once the system is organized, considerable assistant help can be used, but it must be recognized that it requires a teacher of experience to be able to handle ten different texts of widely varying types. About 10% of the students originally enrolled in the course dropped it during the first semester. These students composed the noup - - that would ordinarily be failures. About 15% of the students finished the year with their work incomolete. In nearlv everv case the work is being completed in summer school, additional tuition being required.
No student who completed the course or who is completing it has done so without a satisfactory knowledge of chemistry. The conference plan permits salvage of students who would fail by ordinary methods. One geology student who showed no interest and accomplished very little during the first semester became keenly interested and did a very creditable piece of work when he was assigned some special problems on the analysis of minerals. To be sure, he did not follow the usual type of course, but he mastered qualitative analysis, which represented real salvage in this case. Two unusually able students using Partington's "A Textbook of Inorganic Chemistry" learned more chemistry than would be the rule after a second year in college inorganic chemistry. Most of the students preferred the conference plau to the usual teaching methods. More ground was covered than is usually the case in general chemistry. The chief problem presented by this plan is the tendency of students to allow their work to get behind. Many students have not been taught to accept responsibility in their education. The writer feels that his greatest contribution to the students was that of teaching them to accept some degree of responsibility. In some cases it taxed his resources to the limit without his effecting outstanding improvements. If the plau fails, it will be in regard to this problem of allowing the work to "slide." The teacher should have the authority to drop students from the course if they fall far behind. He should be able to give a failure to students who are behind at the close of the first semester. The student must be made to realize fully the results of falling behmd in his work. To help the student, a schedule for each book was posted on the bulletin board.
ADVANTAGES OF THE CONFERENCE PLAN
The conference plan presents the following advantages: 1. I t permits selection of a text according to the student's training, ability, and needs. 2. I t requires mastery of the text selected. 3. I t allows the student to progress as rapidly as his ability and application permit. 4. I t insures complete correlation of the experimental and textbook work. 5. I t enables the student to profit from his mistakes, for his work is checked in his presence as soon as it is completed. 6. I t permits the student to receive help at the exact time when he needs it. 7. I t saves time for the student. 8. I t requires the teacher to check all work carefully. A superficial sampling of a notebook is not possible while the student is looking on. 9. I t offers the advantages of a flexible time schedule. Sickness, trips, and other situations which derange the schedule do not result in a handicap to the student. 10. I t cultivates the habit of independent study so essential in advanced work. Self-education in college or in the world is the only real education. 11. I t develops responsibility. The ability to use time intelligently should be acquired as early as possible. The freshman year in college is not too early. 12. I t solves the problem of the correlation of highschool and college chemistry. 13. I t minimizes working for grades. 14. I t offers few opportunities for cheating.
