5
the forum General Chemistry Needs More Resources, Teachers with Attitudes that Enhance Self-Esteem, and Chemical Foresight David W. Brooks University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588 The "Provocative Opinion" by Klotz (1) in the March, 1992 issue of the Journal summarizes an enormous amount of human experience with respect to science learn- ing. Science literacy was an issue in biblical times. No group of scientists holds literacy about its discipline in high regard. This same Journal issue contained early writ- ings from the Task Force on General Chemistry (2-5). Sev- eral sessions at the 12th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education were devoted to Task Force activities. Uni Sus- skind described a sort of consensus core curriculum (6). while Orville Chapman suggested using "dynamite" and starting over with a fresh approach (7). During one of the crowded Task Force sessions at the 12th Biennial, it struck me that activities center on seek- ing a stable body of content to codify. Chemistry is moving very fast. Educators are having trouble keeping up. My concerns deal with several areas. First, both the impact and importance of computers have gone nearly unrecog- nized. Second, the issue of motivation has been blurred. Finally, although the main thrust of the intellectual effort expended thus far has been in the area of curriculum, there are reasons to believe that such a thrust won't be successful. Computers haue changed how chemistry is accomplished It is logical that a teacher would look at computers as potential tools for helping students to learn. Chemistry educators have used the computers of today to teach the curriculum (alluded to in ref 2, p. 177). For the most part, college chemistry has not begun to encourage students to learn how to use computers as intellectual tools, as "expert collaborators" whose responsibility in a shared task is to provide a combination of much of the memory and compu- tational skill we now expect students to assume them- selves. There has been marked interdisciplinary activity along these lines using the Mathematics program (8). It is appropriate that chemistry teachers teach the extent to which chemists can make use of expert tools. Several pre- sentations at the Biennial noted such uses (7,9). (Only one reference is made to the use of computer tools in the first Task Force reports published in the forum (10); it focuses upon equilibrium computations for which we now use elec- tronic calculators and procedures with large inherent ap- proximations to obtain outcomes of little actual physical meaning.) Donald Norman introduces the concept of a cognitive ar- tifact (11). somethinr! invented by humankind that 'intetiaces'between humans and their task in such a way as tochonge the cognitive demand of the task. Indeed, cwg- nitive artif'acrs lead tocognitive artifactsadinfiniturn. It's time to recognize the computer as the most important cog- nitive artifact ever to have touched chemistry. General chemistry ought to emphasize using computer tools to solve problems rather than using those computers to learn to solve those problems using memory together with elec- tmnic calculators. The cost of addressing this issue will be enormous. It in- volves hardware, software, and staff development. Per- haps the NSF should focus its resources on better defining this problem. Although not (yet) easily described using models for synaptic modification, motivation is as important as curriculum or instruction. In spite of the fact the we don't see much written about the subiect in the cognition literature. motivation still counts. Herbert ~ i m o n opened the 41st k ual Nebraska Svm~osium on Motivation with a systematic discussion of howmotivation underpins currentexperiments and mod- els of cornition (12,. He armed that current unified theo- ries of cognition are incomplete, and indicated how one might introduce features within them to address the miss- ing issues of motivation and emotion. The mechanisms of motivation and emotion are not easily described. It is clear that mood affects learnability It i s well known, for exam- Volume 70 Number 2 February 1993 135

General Chemistry Needs More Resources, Teachers with Attitudes that Enhance Self-Esteem, and Chemical Foresight

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Page 1: General Chemistry Needs More Resources, Teachers with Attitudes that Enhance Self-Esteem, and Chemical Foresight

the forum General Chemistry Needs More Resources, Teachers with Attitudes that Enhance Self-Esteem, and Chemical Foresight David W. Brooks University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588

The "Provocative Opinion" by Klotz (1) in the March, 1992 issue of the Journal summarizes an enormous amount of human experience with respect to science learn- ing. Science literacy was an issue in biblical times. No group of scientists holds literacy about its discipline in high regard. This same Journal issue contained early writ- ings from the Task Force on General Chemistry (2-5). Sev- eral sessions at the 12th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education were devoted to Task Force activities. Uni Sus- skind described a sort of consensus core curriculum (6). while Orville Chapman suggested using "dynamite" and starting over with a fresh approach (7).

During one of the crowded Task Force sessions at the 12th Biennial, it struck me that activities center on seek- ing a stable body of content to codify. Chemistry is moving very fast. Educators are having trouble keeping up. My concerns deal with several areas. First, both the impact and importance of computers have gone nearly unrecog- nized. Second, the issue of motivation has been blurred. Finally, although the main thrust of the intellectual effort expended thus far has been in the area of curriculum, there are reasons to believe that such a thrust won't be successful.

Computers haue changed how chemistry is accomplished

It is logical that a teacher would look at computers as potential tools for helping students to learn. Chemistry educators have used the computers of today to teach the curriculum (alluded to in ref 2, p. 177). For the most part, college chemistry has not begun to encourage students to learn how to use computers as intellectual tools, as "expert collaborators" whose responsibility in a shared task is to provide a combination of much of the memory and compu- tational skill we now expect students to assume them- selves. There has been marked interdisciplinary activity along these lines using the Mathematics program (8). It is appropriate that chemistry teachers teach the extent to

which chemists can make use of expert tools. Several pre- sentations at the Biennial noted such uses (7,9). (Only one reference is made to the use of computer tools in the first Task Force reports published in the forum (10); it focuses upon equilibrium computations for which we now use elec- tronic calculators and procedures with large inherent ap- proximations to obtain outcomes of little actual physical meaning.)

Donald Norman introduces the concept of a cognitive ar- tifact (11). somethinr! invented by humankind tha t 'intetiaces'between humans and their task in such a way as tochonge the cognitive demand of the task. Indeed, cwg- nitive artif'acrs lead tocognitive artifactsadinfiniturn. It's time to recognize the computer as the most important cog- nitive artifact ever to have touched chemistry. General chemistry ought to emphasize using computer tools to solve problems rather than using those computers to learn to solve those problems using memory together with elec- tmnic calculators.

The cost of addressing this issue will be enormous. It in- volves hardware, software, and staff development. Per- haps the NSF should focus its resources on better defining this problem.

Although not (yet) easily described using models for synaptic modification, motivation is as important as curriculum or instruction.

In spite of the fact the we don't see much written about the subiect in the cognition literature. motivation still counts. Herbert ~ i m o n opened the 41st k u a l Nebraska Svm~osium on Motivation with a systematic discussion of howmotivation underpins currentexperiments and mod- els of cornition (12,. He armed that current unified theo- ries of cognition are incomplete, and indicated how one might introduce features within them to address the miss- ing issues of motivation and emotion. The mechanisms of motivation and emotion are not easily described. It is clear that mood affects learnability I t i s well known, for exam-

Volume 70 Number 2 February 1993 135

Page 2: General Chemistry Needs More Resources, Teachers with Attitudes that Enhance Self-Esteem, and Chemical Foresight

ple, that persons very frightened or stressed are poor learners (15). Whv? One hwothesis is that moods lead to wide scale releases of bra&chemicals that alter the oper- ating environment of the brain. We all know that chemi- cals& be consumed that alter mood. We also know that there are cognitive links-that the mere mention of a word often brings on smiles or tears.

My sense of a key problem with general chemistry is that students, in general, are treated poorly. Also, many gen- eral chemistry teachers have lost an excitement for discov- ery. I lump these factors together under one heading, mo- tivation.

As we examine humankind in a social context, a variety of motivations come into play. The way in which students are treated is the cause of many perceived learning prob- lems. Note the 'Colorado Survev'cited in the editorial bv J. J. Lagowski in the same ~ o u m a l issue as the Task F& forum first appeared (16, 17). A consequence of the envi- ronment we often provide is that majors drift away from science. They switch: they don't fight for our support. Not only are general chemistry studeLts treated with a sort of disdain, but often so are those who teach them.

A simple way in which the environment issue ~ l a v s out is through thetraditional assessments often usedin-intro- ductory courses designed to sort one student from another. Even for those capable of succeeding, there often is dimin- ished self-esteem. The editorial was the most important contribution to the general chemistry debate to appear in the March 1992 issue. It put forth some facts, and laid much of the problem on the proper doorstep.

Upon receiving the prestigious Millikan Award of the American Association of Physics Teachers, Lillian McDer- mott contributed a compelling article describing her exten- sive, successful research i n 6 physics learning(l8). I was struck by one paragraph included in her paper:

There is a critical mndition that must he met for the type of instruction described to be effective. A nonpejorative atme sphere must be cultivated in the dassrwm or laboratory. Mis- takes should be viewed as opportunities to learn, and students must be given the chance to demonstrate that they have learned. The grading system has to be made sufficiently flexi- ble to reflect their progress."

Reflect upon the cover of the March 1992 issue of the Journal (131, which ~ u r w r t s to de~ic t bonded atoms ob- tained from "tuden?' equipment. That is a phe- nomenal observation for a 50-year old chemist to appreci- ate; a realization of a dream. The accompanying article suggests that hardware from which such '~ictures' can be obtained is within the fmancial reach of many small de- partments (14). Chemistry still is exciting in and of itself, especially to an expert. It requires no apologists. It does require that chemistry teachers communicate to students what contemporary chemists are thinking about and doing.

A 50-year-old chemist cannot expect a 20-year-old stu- dent to share this appreciation. However, there is a sense in the writings of chemistry educators that the old-and- well-understood is better appreciated than is the new-and- still-extensively-studied. The chemists I most admire dwell on the unknown, not on the known. Theirs is a search for understanding. Any content-generated motivation in most of the curricula being proposed would seem to come from the known, not the u&o& Even though numerous persons advocate teaching lab, only one speaker at the Davis symposium described a program where students could engage in the task of being chemistry researchers (7).

Why do we stand back from the issue of motivation? This also is a resource problem. Students and teachers need

136 Journal of Chemical Education

time; time costs money. We expect students to invest their time, but we don't want to invest much of our time.

Curricular revisions are within our current scope of resources, but their imuact is lihelv to be much smaller than the scope ofthe problek demand.

Readers might or might not agree with my first two as- sertions, but addressing those areas will require substan- tial reconfigurations of resources. Curriculum revision, on the other hand, is much less expensive and holds what I believe is intuitive appeal for a chemist. Therefore, I want to spend the remainder of this article considering cunicu- lum.

I see spending our intellectual energy on devising a new mriculum that recasts pads of the current curriculum as drilling what is most likely to be a dry hole. Bodner said essentially this (51, but I want to try to analyze the prob- lem from a different perspective. In recent years, the pages of the Journal have included many contributions about learning, and at a time that drastic revisions of the intro- ducto~college chemistry cumculum are being consid- ered, it is appropriate that we seek the best available euid- ance from iearn-ing theory.

-

Connectionist models suggest ways to design curricula

Edelman (19) convinced me that human learning is based upon the functions of groups of neurons acting in concert. With the cover title "Mind and Brain." the Sen- tember 1992 issue of Scientific American includes 11 a r k cles on this topic (20). Martindale has written a cognitive psychology text from a neurological perspective (21). Churchland and Sejnowski provide a readable, scholarly work in this area (22). The October 9,1992 issue ofscience carries the cover title, "Focus on Neuroscience." and in- cludes a stimulating editorial by Daniel ~oshlahd (23). A description of learning in terms of molecular and cellular events is as exciting to learn as that of any other chemical system (24,25).

The connectionist model envisions dynamic connec- tions between neurons involving structures called syn- apses. The individual synaptic connections are not geneti- cally predetermined. Instead, they form, strengthen, weaken, and disappear dynamically as the result of the organism's experience. Recent results suggest that the re- dundancies and potential ronnectivitie~ma~ be far more extensive than previously imafined (2fi).

The connectionist models are closer-to-the-molecules than those often used to analyze learning problems. Con- nectionism suggests that, the more related 'things' we can hook a collection of input ~erce~t ions to. the more likelv that collection is to iakeeense relative to prior expeG- ence. The connectionist model describes this as "content addressing"; similar perceptual inputs embark upon ini- tially similar paths. Prevlous experience alters the neural environment by altering connections: present experience necessarily is affected by any previous experience because that experience changed synaptic connections.

In connectionism, neurons are interconnected, not ideas. The storage of an idea, if you will, is widely distributed over the brain; sometimes, as the result of brain lesions, portions of ideas are inaccessible, and the resulting im- pairments are dramatic (27). Furthermore, during recall, all of the information related to an idea is not moved to an executive area; it stays put. Instead, the neuronal groups act in a parallel fashion. As I think, I talk to myself, I draw pictures in my mind, and I otherwise function as if there is a hearing, seeing, speaking central executive within me that helps me control my thoughts. For the most part, I can

Page 3: General Chemistry Needs More Resources, Teachers with Attitudes that Enhance Self-Esteem, and Chemical Foresight

do only one thing at a time, and many factors determine what I choose (or what I am compelled) to attend (12). It would be extremely surprising if you did not function in a similar fashion. The connectionist model lacks a central executive and is, therefore, counterintuitive. In the con- nectionist model, as reflected by references 19-26, the soft- ware is the hardware!

Is an understanding of connectionism important for chemistry teachers? All teachers communicate with stu- dents through sensory perception, and we hope to shape our instructional messages to them so as to bring about student learning. I assume that the more we know about this process, the more likely we are to succeed.

Successful teachers talk about relating something we are learning to something we already "know." Although the connectionist model permits a more fundamental explana- tion of this result than other models do, the outcome is transparent to the successful teacher who knows fmm ex- perience that ideas seem to be connected or connectable. This same point is made by the Task Force using different jargon and models (5).

At the end of your general chemistry course, you proba- bly expect your students to know and be able to use these terms:

election electron electronegatiuity, electron affinity electroplate, electrolyte

The term election and some things about the term elec- tron will be bmught by students into your course. As a teacher, you act as a neuron modification technologist. When you say or write any of these terms, some of the same perceptive feature detectors (neuronal groups) are activated. Your students' previous experiences, the other words and nictures vou use as vou oresent these terms. and what ask studentsto d; with the terms help determine the seauence in which the students ultimately activate motor neurons that push their pencils or move their fmgers on a keyboard or force air over their variously tensed vocal chords to make use of their knowledge. There even may be changes that we can't see and don't measure, hut onesthat will enable or facilitate subsequent behavior Each student has something on the order of 10'4synapses. Just by being in your classroom, some or all of these syn- apses will change in ways whose outcomes are both in- tended and unintended. It is very likely that you have little concern among your course outcomes for the term election. On the other hand, you probably want electronegativity and electron affinity linked fairly closely. I t is not surpris- ine that Dersons new to these terms mieht find them con- fuiing. f i a t is why successful instructors will not only de- fine these terms. but also thev will take pains to explicate their distinctions. (To perplex-someone, write out the word 'red'usinrr vellow ink, and ask them about the color.^

~eachingmaterial in the absence of any context is like teaching nonsense syllables. It can be done, but i t is fairly dif6cult. Children do learn prayers and oaths and poems and speeches with little sense of their meanings. If we want to observe quick results that reflect some sort of un- derstanding, however, i t is best to learn something similar to or related to another already known thing. That's a cur- riculum desien orinciole. The neurons, not the ideas, are connected. GiL the term election maynot interfere much with the term electron because of the extent of prior learn- ing, you can expect the other terms beginning &th the let- ters e-l-e-c-t to interfere quite a bit, especially when they all are new to the learner.

There are some chemical facts that can be presented without a need to tie them to other chemical facts. My doc-

toral research concerned the mechanism by which tyrosi- nase, a copper protein, catalyzes the aerobic oxidation of tyrosine to a quinone that subsequently forms melanin oolvmers. Sharing the details of this work with general - . chemistry students never seems appropriate. Telling them, however, that tyrosinase is involved in a series of chemical reactions that lead to skin pigmentation (28) and, as a result, helps facilitate the at-a-distance bigotry often experienced by persons of one color from those of a differ- ent color, seemed appropriate on many occasions. The chemical fact can be tied to an extant, pre-existing, non- chemical body of knowledge. Ideas don't have to be very chemical in nature to be highly connectable.

Connectionist models explain why Ufactsn&pend upon context

Connectionism orovides a n exolanation for the ex- tremely important phenomenon of context dependence. Context dependence is a very powerful consideration when deciding upon the chemistry content likely to be useful a t the turn of this century. While there may be some abso- lutes in the world, there are no absolutes in the mind of any one persou-a place where there is very little detailed prewiring, vast numbers of synapses somehow store infor- mation regarding one's previous experience, and those synapses change with a seemingly very short half-life whether or not they are used (29). Context-dependence plays out in many ways, the most easily demonstrated being in the area of optical illusions (30). The impact of ambient odors on the oerformance of cognitive tasks is nothing less than stu-g (31). nowl ledge learned from studies of oatholoeies and diseases further support notions of contextA(32). ~&wious awareness about how we know what we know is among the more controversial issues being studied in connectionism (33,341.

Context dependence affects understanding. Anton Law- son, a leading theorist of the Piagetian ideas brought to science education by Robert Karplus and others, describes large-scale studies from which he posits a "multiple-hy- pothesis" theory (35) and suggests that:

... tests of formal reasoning actually measure the extent to which persons have acquired the ability to initiate reasoning with more than one specific antecedent condition, or if they are unable to imagine more than one antecedent condition, they are aware that more than one is possible; therefore conclusions that are drawn are tempered by this possibility.

In these studies, the context into which a problem was embedded had a profound impact upon the performance outcome.

Context-dependence boils down to the conclusion that your knowledge (understanding) of stoichiometry in a slide-rule world is different from that in an electronic cal- culator world which is different from that in a computer world. When you spend most of your professional lifework- ing with saiples nf nanograms (and above! wherein the laws of thermodynamics always seem to apply and vari- ables are controlled in a fairlv conventional. standardized fashion, that 'understandmg-shifts-with-context' is very counterintuitive. That, nevertheless, is what context-de- pendence means.

Context dependence makes some results not at all sur- orisina. I asked students in a course on instructional mes- sage &sign to design materials that would help teach the conceots of four-coordinate holes (tetrahedral holes) and six-coordinate hnles (hexahedral holes, in closest packed solids. First, they suggested using a computer application for renderine that would oermit students to"make cuts" in " the rendered solid. Next, they suggested a series of two-di- mensional drawings mcluding colors and overlays for over-

Volume 70 Number 2 February 1993 137

Page 4: General Chemistry Needs More Resources, Teachers with Attitudes that Enhance Self-Esteem, and Chemical Foresight

head transparencies (36). When shown one figure from the Assessments motivate core curricula J~urno l 6'7) used far this purpose, they ofired extensive criticism based upon their perceptions of context depen- dence. and concluded that the firmre would onlv bc useful to thdse who already knew theUconcepts. he; were not surprised to learn that the figure leads to confusion. My point is that asking students questions during class uncov- ers verv real learnine ~roblems that mav have nothing to do wit< chemical cocLpts. I suspect th& many chemi&y leaming problems are of this variety, since we have devel- oped our own language to describe very special cases. Say the word unionized to yourself: did you mean belonging to a collective bargaining organization, or were you thinking about HC1 molecules in a nonpolar solvent?

Well-established principles guide the design of ordinarv tasks to make success on them easier

Whenever performance counts, humans try hard to re- strict thinking tasks. We practice. We rehearse. We try to make the implicit more explicit to facilitate remembering it. For situations that we deal with regularly, we try to keep the demands on ourselves from being both deep (i.e., havine extensive seauences of well-understood ~rocedures - but that usually require considerable expertise to apply) and wide (many choices) (38). The most challenging prob- lems we face in life are both wide and deep. Naturally, we hope to educate students to deal with those kinds of rob- lems. The success of humans on such problems, howeGer, is usually low.

One might say that early Task Force curriculum propos- als trade a wide curriculum for a deer, one. Experienced teachers implic4tly understand that a i d e , derp curricu- lum ends U D being unteachabl~vou can't "teach" both - width and depth.

As soon as a d e e ~ curriculum emerges. those of us charged with teaching such a curriculum All proceed to develor, explicit algorithms that enhance our students' ability-to skcceed. ?hat is, we'll figure out ways to "shal- low" the deep curriculum. Any learning that cannot be connected to prior learning

stands out as do nonsense svllables. Even though the word 'connect'is misleading (the neurons, not the id'as, are con- nected), successful teachers connect new ideas to existing ideas. In a deep curriculum, the successful teacher will be trying to link related ideas by noting similarities and dif- ferences. In a wide curriculum, new ideas are related to less similar ideas through such links as broad patterns, personal experiences, economic realities, etc. Deep curric- ula are well suited to concept development, but most con- cept development in today's general-chemistry courses is focused on skills development. Computer tool use miti- gates against the need for developing these skills.

The meaning of the term ''understanding" depends upon contexts. Something is understood as judged by an e&er- nal observer relative to some standard held by that ob- server. Each of us who teach chemistrv has a standard for understanding. In fad, research on misconceptions is com- mon~lace in science education todav (39). There is even a notitin that misconceptions onen are "misapplied concep- tions" (40,. Some writers im~lv that a deer, cul~iculum will lead to better understanding. Maybe, maybe not. In a sense, we already have sacrificed a better understanding of the big picture of chemistry in an attempt to achieve a better understandine of a few of its parts. -

Trading wide for deep is not necessarily a good idea. Per- haps this question will help to frame the issue: Which ice cream store do you want to visit, 30 flavors, three dips, or three flavors, 30 dips? Perhaps that's a way to describe a likely outcome of proposed depth-for-breadth alternatives.

There is a curriculum. Most of the bestwelling college general chemistry textbooks are better described by com- monalties than by distinctions. Curricula exist for many reasons. There is the sense that the organic chemistry teacher should know what knowledge is available to stu- dents as a result ofgeneral chemistry. There is also a sense that success is somehow measurable on the basis of cri- teria such as standardized exams (ACS) or professional exams (GRE, MCAT).

In fact, curricula of quite diverse proportions have been tried many times over the years. Brown University under Leallen Clapp (41) taught organic chemistry to freshman beginning in 1948, a curriculum that partly has been redis- covered (42). CalTech tried some very innovative labora- tory curricula in the early 1970's (43). Chapman's descrip- tion of the current majors' laboratory a t UCLA is downright exciting (7). There has been no shortage of new ideas or approaches to curriculum.

One is hard pressed to find any special evidence that graduates of innovative curricula went on to any uniquely greater glory or suffered untoward consequences as com- pared with graduates of more conventional curricula. This lack of evaluative data may have more to do with the ex- pense of appropriate longitudinal studies than anything else. Also, when we think about Norman's notion of cogni- tive artifacts and consider the dvnamic nature of the busi- ness chemistry is about, it is likely that, by the time the outcomes of a well-designed and ngcessarily expensive study of a curriculum innovation are in place, the need for revisions would already be at hand.

Assessment based upon a curriculum provides a source of comfort to an instructor. It is a way of saying, from an external perspective, 'what you are doing is okay.' So, as- sessment has a long history in the Division of Chemical Education, especially as reflected by the activities of the Examinations Institute.

When we try to analyze what we are about in terms of individual learners, one-at-a-time, assessment tied to some core is not really as important as is finding ways to present challenging problems such that self-esteem is raised rather than lowered in the process regardless of the student's performance. If there is one thing general chem- i s t ~ courses all too often are noted for, it is lowerina stu- - - dent self-esteem.

Let me point out quickly that, in college chemistry teach- ing, some form of assessment is needed. Especially for be- ginners, learning for the sake of learning is a weak motiva- tor. College teachers usually use grades as motivators. If there are no conseouences connected with attendinn to chemistry learning: then there is little likelihood ;hat chemistry learning will occur. Offering choices and offering repeatability may make a big difference. Teachers who do not have anv formal assessments usuallv are dissatisfied with learning outcomes.

Using different instructional strategies may have more impact upon general chemistry than will revising curriculum

Bodner makes the point that an alternative to revising curriculum is to revise instruction (5). Examples abound. There has been substantial research effort to indicate that teaching verbal descriptions before writing equations leads to better learning results. even on formal nroofs (44). - . ~

Using cooperative learning strategies wherein students work in teams better reflects current research ~ractice in industry (45) and also appears to have some v& reason- able learning outcomes (46.47). Repeatable tests make a big difference (48,491.

138 Journal of Chemical Education

Page 5: General Chemistry Needs More Resources, Teachers with Attitudes that Enhance Self-Esteem, and Chemical Foresight

lb enhance peneml chemistry, liberate students Literature Cited from trivia,>hallenge them with the unknown, and help them improve their self-esteem

It is easy to slip into the view that a curriculum core of principles; understood from singular perspectives and in- variant over time, is something well-trained persons of good intent can create. It's a tight idea. Curriculum is a natural rallying point for chemistry teachers seeking change. Curriculum, however, is not our biggest problem. Our biggest problem is lack of resources, and we have un- dertrained and underequipped faculty as a result. Scant resources lead to inappropriate attitudes toward students. We don't s ~ e n d enoueh time meetine student needs. We should be kying to acquire the hardware, software, and training so that we can teach students how to use com- outer tools to deal with chemical problems. We should be ;sing more time to devise indiiidualized programs of study and creating challenging problems to evaluate stu- dents

In the absence of resources, we are forced to focus upon the areas of curriculum and instruction. those least likely to produce important changes. Given that, respect the un- known and extol its challenges! It is possible for a biotechnologist to use medium conditioned using buffalo rat liver cells as an ingredient in a growth system even though its workings are not well understood and just be- cause experience tells us that it makes the system more efficient. Why is it that some of the catalysts used in coal desulfurization and liauefaction require pretreatment with Has and continuous addition ofsmall amounts of that sulfur-containine substance to be effective? It is okav to tie chemistry threais to the unknown, because that isUwhere the most exciting part of chemistry is going on.

Develop national experiments-general chemistry ex- periments wherein students perform the same task and pool data in an attempt to solve some national problem. For example, restriction analysis of genetic material from bees might be an excellent way for students to help docu- ment the distribution of Africanized honey bees. Discover Internet; link students to one another. Use repeatable tests. Instead of looking to the classical content divisions to draw descriptive examples, look to the chemical industries or chemical phenomena within 50 miles of your campus. Even if we cannot make com~uters a maior art of everv " . course, we can replace the skills programs found in stu- dent resource centers with tools applications, and provide some opportunities for experience with them.

As long as we keep looking inward see- the most sta- ble ideas within our discipline instead of outward toward those ideas that are most in flux at the edee, we put our least exciting material forward, not the most exciting. In the face of this a ~ ~ r o a c h . I sus~ect that Cha~man's dvna- . . mite suggestion is the most appropriate one for improving general chemistry.

1. Klotz, I. M. J Ckem E d u . I=, 69.173. 2. Rickard, L. H J. Chsm E i u e 1882, 69, 175-177. 3. Hawkea, S. J. J Chem Edue. 1982,69,178-181. 4. Sr rncer J . N. J. Ckem Educ. 1992.69.182186.

I w1 7 Chapman. 0. L 'Lct'r Use Wnmn~e ' paper 127 12th Blcnnlal Confcrena on

Chcmmal Educauon. Da\m CA. A u m s 226. 1912. 8 A b a r a a . 1992 .Mu,kemn,tm CrnFrmm. R a w d a m , Nctherland3. September 2 4

IW1 \"p<UIeulnrnnn, .,rmnthr.nlauw.mr"c.., nndmgnmngarsur e n d l a p ies were presented.

9. Kooser, R. G. "An E M m d c Tertbook lor Physical Chemisw: Chemical Applea- tions ofhfathomtim - paoer 122.12th Biennial k l m n c e on Chemiesl Ed-- tion, Davis, CA, A u ~ % 6 , 1992.

10. Rel.3, p 181. 11. No-, D. A. &signing I"&.mtlo": Camll , J . M.. Ed.; Clobndge: Clobridgg

,rn,.,"-W . . , . , . . - 12. s.~~.o~r. B A T a u s and stunrion.The L&gc bnwccnmwnion and motivation'

11.1 Annual N ~ L r w k s Syn.pahwmun .Umtv&#un. O n n l ~ r Y ~ 2 1 . 1 9 Y 2 Volurnv 41 o! tha mnferenre ~mccrdm%r wl l be pt~hllahed by the C ~ w m w of N e h s b R ~ S S , L ~ ~ ~ I ~ , NE:

13. J Chem. Edue 1882, 69.A66. 14. Braun, R. D. J Chom. E d u . 19%3,69,.49CLA92. 15. Lindsay, P H.; Norman, D. A Humon InfDrmolion Pmopsaing. 2nd ed. 1977 Aca-

demic Preaa: New York. 667-691, 16. An analysis w a performed by N. Ha* and E. Samour and mpnfed by B. cipra

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kge F~aeulhi I n s f r u c f i a ~ l P d u d i v i l y , ASHGERIC Higher Education report No 4: W s a h i n h , DC: The Geoqe Waahinzbm Univeraihi, School of Education and

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