E D U C A T I O N

Big Classes Create Big Problems A special panel of university teachers discusses the problems of teaching general chemistry to an expanding student population

Expanding student population at uni­versities and colleges throughout the U.S. is compounding the problems of teaching general chemistry. The sit­uation is so critical that the Advisory Council on College Chemistry, which was organized to help improve under­graduate teaching in chemistry (C&EN, Jan. 14, page 43) , authorized a panel to study the "logistics" of teaching general chemistry in large sections.

The panel of university chemistry teachers includes Dr. Robert C. Bla­sted, University of Minnesota, chair­man; Dr. Robbin C. Anderson, Uni­versity of Texas; Dr. Clark E. Bricker, University of Kansas; Dr. Edwin M. Larsen, University of Wisconsin; Dr. Robert W. Parry, University of Michi­gan; Dr. W. T. Lippincott, Ohio State University; Dr. Robert L. Livingston, Purdue University; Dr. L. Carroll King, Northwestern University; Dr. George C. Pimentel, University of California, Berkeley; Dr. Charles C. Price, University of Pennsylvania; and Dr. Hans B. Jonassen, Tulane Uni­versity.

Quality. The panel will make recommendations (based on the three-day discussion in Washington, D.C.) to the Advisory Council on College Chemistry. Members of the panel

agree that, whatever solution a college or university finds for its particular problems in handling large classes in general chemistry, the quality of the general chemistry course must not be lowered just because the number of students increases. For example, lab­oratory should not be eliminated from the course just because staff and fa­cilities aren't adequate. As one panel member put it, it may be better to limit enrollment and train fewer stu­dents well, than to train poorly every­one who comes to the universities.

One problem that teachers are faced with is the need for additional labora­tory and classroom facilities. Depart­ments with facilities geared to certain numbers of students are now faced with a substantial (and often fright­ening) increase in enrollment. In some of the large state universities, the enrollment is expected to increase by 50% in the next two years.

Class Size. In many cases, the total number of students is not as important as the relative increase in class size, the panel agrees. A col­lege able to cope with an enrollment of 500 in general chemistry will be as seriously affected by a sudden in­crease to 1000 as another school might be by an increase from 3000 to 4000 students. In either situation,

PANEL. University chemistry teachers wrestle with the problems of teaching general chemistry to large numbers of students while maintaining course quality

additional facilities are needed; or, at the very least, more efficient utili­zation of existing laboratories and classrooms is required.

The most critical need, the panel believes, is faculty and teaching as­sistants to handle the increased num­ber of students in the general chem­istry courses. As one member of the group pointed out, a competent lecturer can handle 1000 students in a class as easily as 100. But it is also important to have capable teach­ers for the laboratory and recitation sections of these courses.

Part of the problem of staffing the general chemistry courses is that some members of the faculty feel that it is beneath them to teach freshmen. "Being assigned to teach general chem­istry should not be thought of as being exiled to Siberia," Dr. Pimen­tel says. He urges that more research-oriented professors become involved in the freshmen courses to avoid the danger of creating a two-class faculty. There should be no division of faculty into a research staff and a teaching staff—especially a freshmen-teaching staff. "If a faculty member doesn't want to make a contribution to the main purpose of a university—teaching —then he should be in a research in­stitute," Dr. Anderson adds.

Teaching Assistants. Several mem­bers of the panel believe that it is generally desirable to have all senior staff teach in the general chemistry course, as is done at the University of Kansas. But there aren't enough senior staff men to meet the need, and teaching assistants are needed in even larger numbers. Nearly all laboratory sections in general chem­istry courses at the universities rep­resented by members of the panel are taught by teaching assistants with supervision (sometimes only cursory) by faculty.

But there is wide variation in the assignment of teaching assistants to small recitation classes. The extremes are represented by the University of

48 C & E N OCT. 2 8, 1963

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Minnesota, where no senior staff teaches recitation classes, and at Northwestern, where all sections are taught by senior staff. At the Uni­versity of California, Berkeley, chem­istry students are sectioned accord­ing to ability, with the top section taught by the most senior professor in the course. About 40% of these classes are taught by full-time staff.

Since graduate students are used to fill out staff needs in large uni­versities, there is some danger that quality of instruction suffers. This is partly avoided by discussing with the teaching assistants at the beginning of a semester the general philosophy of teaching, effective techniques, and laboratory, safety.

Fellowships. But the supply of teaching assistants won't fill the need in a year or two, the panel says. While the need for teaching assist­ants is growing, more fellowships (available from the National Science Foundation and other sources) are being awarded to first-year graduate students, thus removing them as po­tential teaching assistants.

The panel members believe that this will have an adverse effect on chemistry teaching in large universi­ties. The panel would like to see the large-scale national fellowship pro­grams adopt policies flexible enough to meet specific needs of chemistry, mathematics, engineering, or physics. It was suggested that NSF, for exam­ple, consider providing more summer fellowships for teaching assistants and for chemistry graduate students in their second or later years.

All members of the panel believe that teaching experience is important in the training of Ph.D. candidates. At Tulane, this conviction is so strong that all graduate students are required to teach four hours a week during their entire term in graduate school. And at Berkeley, all fellowship holders are encouraged to teach one semester.

Hardware. The panel discussed the techniques of teaching with TV and other aids. No one at the meeting recommends instruction entirely by closed-circuit TV. It can be used, however, to implement teaching tech­niques. For instance, Dr. Brasted points out that its use is very effective for prelab instruction. When all stu­dents in a course are in laboratory at the same time, demonstrations (live or taped) can be shown simultaneously to the entire class in different view­ing rooms or laboratories.

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Science Curriculums Include Education Courses for Teachers Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science is planning some important changes in its curriculums next fall. The college, with well established programs in pharmacy, chemistry, bac­teriology, and biology, is seeking ap­proval for a proposed teacher-train­ing program from Pennsylvania's De­partment of Public Instruction.

According to Dr. Arthur Osol (who became president this year after being director of the school of chemistry and dean of science), many of the college's graduates have become high school science teachers. After gradua­tion, these students have had to enroll in schools of education to take the re­quired professional education courses for teacher certification. Therefore, the college is attempting to expand its science curriculums to include edu­cation courses as électives. This way, students could qualify for teaching, industry, or graduate school.

Another advantage of the program is that it will better prepare students for high school science teaching, Dr. Osol says. The rule for teacher preparation has been to require stu­dents to go to a school of education and take a minimum of science. "Our curriculum, to the contrary, is heavy on science with a minimum of educa­tion courses," Dr. Osol explains.

In addition, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science is well equipped for undergraduate instruc­tion in instrumentation. In 1947, the school introduced a course in instru­mentation in the use of modern in­struments in analysis and research. Since that time, its instruments facili­ties amount to over $100,000 worth of equipment including infrared and ultraviolet spectrophotometry, fluor-imetry, gas chromatography, polar-ography, potentiometric titrimetry, and electrophoresis. Instruction of this kind will give teachers exceptional preparation to teach modern science.

Conant's Book. The proposed teacher-training program at Phila­delphia College of Pharmacy and Science follows in the wake of Dr. James Bryant Conant's controversial book, "The Education of American Teachers." Among other recommen­dations, Dr. Conant says each college or university should develop its own teacher-education program which meets all certification requirements ex­cept practice teaching. He also says

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OCT. 28, 1963 C & E N 53

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teachers should be assigned only to fields for which they are prepared.

"We have taken steps in the direc­tion of these recommendations/' Dr. Osol says. The college proposes to modify four baccalaureate curriculums by including professional education subjects. The subjects will meet the Pennsylvania Department of Public Instruction's requirements for teacher training at the secondary school level in biology, chemistry, general science, physics, and mathematics, he says. The four curriculums include bachelor of science degrees in bacteriology, biology, chemistry, and pharmacy.

Under the program, 20 semester hours of education will be given, two hours more than the required amount for state certification of teachers. Ac­tually, the science curriculums will be expanded by 10 semester hours of électives. General psychology, a four-hour course, is already included in the curriculums as an elective. And six semester hours of practice teaching required by the state can be arranged for by students during the summers.

In addition to general psychology and practice teaching, the college is proposing five new subjects to meet requirements for issuance of a pro­visional college certificate to students electing the teacher-education option. These would be taken in lieu of cer­tain électives, principally during the last two years of the baccalaureate curriculums. The courses include ed­ucational psychology, history and social foundations of American educa­tion, comparative education, visual and sensory methods of education, and science teaching techniques.

Education Department. The col­lege has also submitted a proposal for the organization of an education de­partment to the Department of Public Instruction. The department would administer the teacher-training pro­gram. All but one of the persons who would be assigned to the department are members of the teaching staff of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science. Dr. Robert N. Jones, director of the department of physics, will be acting director of the education department if it is approved.

A team from the Department of Public Instruction will visit the col­lege on Dec. 5 to evaluate the pro­posed teacher-training program. Dr. Osol says that he is optimistic that the department will approve the re­vised curriculum. Once approved, it will go into effect next fall, he says.

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