Chemical Education Today
Reports from Other Journals
The Science Teacher: Spring 2005 by Steve Long
Articles of possible interest to readers that have appeared in The Science Teacher (TST) between Summer 2004 and January 2005 include those about teaching visually impaired students, the history and the nature of science, inquiry-based learning, and using art in chemistry. The reviewed articles contain classroom activities, labs, assessments, and teaching tips. “Teaching Science to the Visually Impaired” offers numerous suggestions for accommodating students with visual impairments; however, the instructional strategies may be appropriate for use with all students. Seating preference, physical arrangement of the classroom, lab safety issues, lab equipment accommodations, and assessment are some of the issues that the authors discuss. A sample lesson in metric measurement that was modified for visually impaired students is included in the article. Of potential use are the suggestions for locating general resources as well as specific science activities for visually impaired students. While more than 20 years old, two articles in this Journal, “Chemistry and the Visually Handicapped” (1) and “Teaching Aids for Visually Handicapped Students in Introductory Chemistry Courses” (2), offer sound advice for assisting visually impaired students in chemistry. Two recent JCE articles, the first about labs and the second about a blind chemist, “Effective Laboratory Experiences for Students with Disabilities: The Role of a Student Laboratory Assistant” (3) and “The Professorial Career of Clifford R. Haymaker: A Life of Chemistry Imagined and Bequeathed” (4), may be of interest. See also p 607 in this issue. The American Chemical Society publication, Teaching Chemistry to Students with Disabilities: A Manual for High Schools, Colleges, and Graduate Programs (5), is a superb resource for teachers that may be obtained online. Alan Colburn explains how teachers can improve student understanding by “Focusing Labs on the Nature of Science”. This article describes how modifications of questioning strategies, lab activities, and thinking processes assist students to think better, be better consumers of science, and like sci-
ence more. Colburn rejects the traditional science lesson on the “magical” scientific method that contains a set series of steps. He favors a better student understanding of the true nature of science where “[s]cientists follow scientific methods with common characteristics, but no single path leads to certainty”. The use of properly structured labs with an inquiry approach allows students to develop this more accurate picture of the nature of science. In the article, Colburn uses the examples of paper chromatography and mystery powders as suitable lab activities. He provides examples of questioning strategies and suggestions for helping teachers direct students to a better understanding of the nature of science where evidence, experimentation, and understanding replace “pronouncements from experts”. An interesting historical perspective on the nature of science can be gained by reading the 1955 JCE article, “The Nature of Science and the Teaching of High School Chemistry” (6). A more elaborate analysis of common solids is described in “Qualitative Analysis of Fourteen White Solids and Two Mixtures Using Household Chemicals” (7). This activity would make an extended follow-up to the mystery powder activity Colburn describes. Continuing with the focus on the nature of science is “Teaching the Stories of Scientists and Their Discoveries”. Donald McKinney and Mark Michalovic use Mendeelev’s development of the periodic table and an activity on differentiating fake aspirin from real aspirin as opportunities to correlate science concepts with history. They believe that “[a]s students investigate the lives and accomplishments of scientists, they discover more about inquiry and the authentic nature of knowledge production in science”. In the article, the authors provide an activity to recreate the periodic table and learn about its development and structure. The aspirin activity described in the article presents an opportunity to debate the safety of pharmaceuticals as well as link with the history and chemistry of aspirin. Also correlating history with a chemical process is “Colored Bands: History of Chroma-
The Science Teacher Featured Articles Watson, Sandy White; Johnston, Linda. Teaching Science to the Visually Impaired. TST 2004, 71 (6), 30–35. Colburn, Alan. Focusing Labs on the Nature of Science. TST 2004, 71 (9), 32–35. McKinney, Donald; Michalovic, Mark. Teaching the Stories of Scientists and Their Discoveries. TST 2004, 71 (9), 46–51. Deters, Kelly. Inquiry in the Chemistry Classroom. TST 2004, 71 (10), 42–45. Flores, Mickie. The Alchemy of Art. TST 2005, 72 (1) 48–49.
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Chemical Education Today
tography” (8). John Stock emphasizes incorporating history into chemistry in his recent JCE article, “The Teaching of the History of Chemistry” (9). “Inquiry in the Chemistry Classroom” offers tips for implementing inquiry-based chemistry labs. Kelly Deters provides an inquiry lab example on the effectiveness of antacids as well as 23 additional ideas for possible inquiry labs in chemistry. Deters addresses the critical issues of safety, time, and assessment in her article. The importance of students performing inquiry activities has been well documented in TST and JCE, as well as in the National Science Education Standards (10). A transition to using true inquiry is described in “‘Prompted’ Inquiry-Based Learning in the Introductory Chemistry Laboratory” (11). In addition, a review of Valerie Letchtanski’s excellent book, Inquiry-Based Experiments for Chemistry, has been published in this Journal (12). Mickie Flores includes at least one art project in each of her chemistry units. She describes how and why she uses art in chemistry in “The Alchemy of Art”. Kinesthetic and visual learners benefit from the inclusion of art activities in learning. Flores states “white paper, muslin fabric, pipe cleaners, and various coloring utensils are now as much as a staple for me as 1 Molar HCl”. Her article includes descriptions of science–art activities, including a pH project, entropy, atomic model mobiles, and types of chemical reactions. The American Chemical Society used Celebrating Chemistry and Art as its theme for National Chemistry Week in 2001. For that event, Erica Jacobsen prepared an extensive annotated bibliography of useful JCE articles (13). An example of one of those articles is Mary Virginia Orna’s “Chemistry, Color, and Art” in which she describes the chemistry of artists’ colors (14).
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Literature Cited 1. Crosby, G. J. Chem. Educ. 1981, 58, 206–207. 2. Smith, D. J. Chem. Educ. 1981, 58, 226. 3. Pence, Laura E.; Workman, Harry J.; Riecke, Pauline. J. Chem. Educ. 2003, 80, 295–298. 4. Eisch, John J.; Haworth, Daniel T. J. Chem. Educ. 2003, 80, 275– 278. 5. Miner, D. L.; Nieman, R.; Swanson, A. B.; Woods, M., Eds. Teaching Chemistry to Students with Disabilities: A Manual for High Schools, Colleges, and Graduate Programs, 4th ed.; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2001; available online at http://membership.acs.org/C/CWD/TeachChem4.pdf (accessed Jan 2005). 6. Klubertanz, G. J. Chem. Educ. 1955, 32, 248–252. 7. Oliver-Hoyo, M.; Allen, D.; Solomon, S.; Brook, B.; Ciraolo, J.; Daly, S.; Jackson, L. J. Chem. Educ. 2001, 78, 1475–1478. 8. Williams, K. J. Chem. Educ. 2002, 79, 922–923. 9. Stock, J. J. Chem. Educ. 2004, 81, 793. 10. National Research Council. National Science Education Standards; National Academy Press: Washington, DC, 1996; http:// www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/nses/html/ (accessed Jan 2005). 11. Green, W.; Elliott, C.; Cummins, R. J. Chem. Educ. 2004, 81, 239. 12. Keith-Lucas, L. J. Chem. Educ. 2001, 78, 593. 13. Jacobsen, E. K. J. Chem. Educ. 2001, 78, 1316. 14. Orna, M. V. J. Chem. Educ. 2001, 78, 1305.
Steve Long teaches at Rogers High School, Rogers, AR 72756;
[email protected].
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