Symposium on the Contents of the Basic Courses in Chemistry* THE CURRICULUM IN CHEMISTRY PHILIP 1. ELVING The Pennsylvania State College, State College, Pennsylvania
IN TAE 75 years which have passed since the founding
institutions beyond the first course in quantitative analysis. With the increasing need of the last decade for more exact knowledge of the constitution and composition of material, interest in analytical chemistry increased, and in recent years there has been an increasing multiplication in the courses offered in analytical chemistry. The growth and change in undergraduate courses in chemistry can perhaps best be exemplifiedbythe changes in the chemistry courses offered at one institution, The Pennsylvania State College, a t the two extremes of the 75-year span of the American Chemical Society. In 1876 the scientific curriculum at The Pennsylvania State College included one year of general and inorganic chemistry, one year of qualitative analysis, and one-third year of blowpipe analysis; an additional two-thirds of a year could be spent on qualitative analysis as an elective. These courses comprised the total offering in chemistry. In 1951 the Chemistry Department of The Pennsylvania State College offers at the undergraduate and graduate levels a total of 94 courses, which are augmented by the many chemistry courses given by the Department of Biochemistry and the School of Mineral Industries. The growth in both the number and the variety of ad infiniturn. In an analogous fashion, the courses in analytical courses is evident and need not be underlined. I t chemistry have reflected the emphasis placed on ana- would be pertinent, though, to summarize the essential lytical chemistry 75 years ago when analysis was a pre- curriculum in chemistry specified by the American dominant interest in all fields of chemistry in the efforts Chemical Society as a basis for approval for the offering of chemists to define and understand the areas in which of a major in chemistry. they were working and the materials with which they The Committee on Professional Training of the were concerned. As the interest shifted from the an* A. C. S. has adopted the following standards for use as lytical aspect to the synthetic aspect, the courses in ana- criteria in evaluating undergraduate training in chemlytical chemistry decreased as the courses in organic istry. The minimum chemistry course requirements chemistry increased. Then, as the newly developed for the bachelor's degree must include four basic onefield of physical chemistry increased, with its apparent year courses in general chemistry, analytical chemistry, promise of being able to explain all chemical phenomena physical chemistry, and organic chemistry, plus a t from basic considerations, analytical chemistry further least one advanced course. The latter must necessideclined and many of the experiments which used to be tate as prerequisite three one-year courses in chemistry done in analytical courses began to creep into other and may be in one or more. of the following areas: courses in chemistry. The nadir in analytical chem- inorganic, analytical, physical, or organic chemistry, or istry courses was probably reached some 20 years ago biochemistry. Qualitative analysis, that stormy petrel when little analytical chemistry was offered in most of the chemistry curriculum, may be given as a separate *Presented at the 120th Meeting of the American Chemical course or may be included in either of the courses in general chemistry or quantitative analysis. Society, New York, September, 1951.
of the American Chemical Society, there have been enormous changes in the scope and implementation of chemistry and chemical industry. Not the least of these changes has been the increased scope and variation of emphasis in the basic courses of the curriculum in chemistry. The changes in the chemistry curriculum have followed the development of chemistry, mirroring its uncertainties, hopes, disappointments, and triumphs. As new theories and new classes of materials have developed, the chemistry curriculum has reflected their coming and, occasionally, their passing. To illustrate, one need merely cite the appearance of courses in physical chemistry as a well-defined area in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The very titles of the courses in which physical chemistry was discussed and their subdivisions into more specified courses have clearly paralleled the development of this area. From the course in Theories of Chemistry came Theoretical Chemistry, then Physical Chemistry, and now a whole family of descendants: Chemical Kinetics, Thermodynamics, Statistical Mechanics, Quantum Mechanics, Colloid Chemistry, Phase Rule, Electrochemistry, Atomic and Molecular Structure, and so on, almost
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The purpose of the present symposium goes back to the series of symposia which the Division of Chemical Education has sponsored or ec-sponsored in recent years. These symposia have dealt with the contents, function, and development of each of the basic courses given in the curriculum in chemistry. The purpose of the present symposium, then, is essentially that of summarizing and expanding the discussions and the ideas which were developed at these past symposia. Each of the topics to be presented has been prepared with a three-fold aim. These aims may be itemized as follows: The principal emphasis in each topic is on the delineation of the contemporary function of the basic course described, the place of this basic course in relation to the curriculum in chemistry, and the desirable manner in which the course might be improved. Second, an attempt is made to furnish a definitive picture of the contemporary status of each of the basic courses and to indicate the pressures tending to modify it and the directions in which these courses will probably change. Finally, the discussion aims to synthesize the view-
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points of various types of collegiate institutions, such as the large state university, the smaller endowed school, and the small liberal arts college. An attempt is made to avoid the type of presentation which has been briefly summarized as, "This is the way we do it a t our school." Obviously, our restriction in time places a burden on the authors in allowing them only to indicate the general trend in their discussion and to omit all but the most essential illustrative material. The symposium is limited to the basic undergraduate courses in the principal areas of chemistry. General chemistry is discussed from two viewpoints, since it was felt that the motivation for the terminal course in chemistry is apt to be quite different from that of the course in general chemistry which is taken as prerequisite to other courses in chemistry. Part of this difference in motivation is reflected in the increase in the last few years in the courses in inorganic chemistry which are being intrcduced into the latter part of the undergraduate curriculum in chemistry. This introduction is a most significant one and indicates a vital change in the chemistry curriculu~n.
