The curri~:ulum survey sponsored by the Division of Chemical Education has revealed a number of curricular ideas which seen1 worth bringing to the teaching profession in somewhat greater detail than was possible in the original report.' Chemistry departments in a number of liberal arts colleges have undertaken rather drastic reorganizations of some of the traditional courses. Two of these new programs which involve courses in the first two years of the curriculum are described here.z

Ursinus College

An integrated coursc ill chemistry, mathematics, and physics is required for all entering freshmen who are prospective science majors a t Ursinus College. The course is given by thrcc faculty members, one from each of the disciplines represented. Material from the three fields has bcen so thoroughly integrated that the presentation develops logically and cohesively. Usu- ally, no more than three conserutive lectures are offered in any of the three subject areas. Lectures in each sub- ject are given by the faculty member in that field, and a standard textbook is used for each of them.

This is a triple credit course which involves seven lectures and two afternoon laboratory periods (one each for physics and chemistry) each week. One problem intrinsic to such a plan, that of how to treat students who fail a triple credit course, has been solved by per- mitting them to take re-examinations in two of the three survey courses which are still offered in the indi- vidual fields. (These survey courses are now intended only for non-science majors.) Thus these students can still earn passing grades in two science courses from their enrollment in the chemistry-math-physics course. Since the combined course is now a prerequi- site for all other courses offered in biology, chemis- try, and physics, it is necessary for an entering fresh- man to have made a decision that he will major in one of the sciences while i11 college. It is not necessary for him to have selected a specific science, so in this way the program offers significant flexibility to an undecided entering student. The individual departments have found the combined course a great advantage, because they can now count on a common background for all

Robert I. Walter

Hoverford College Haverford, Pennsylvonio

' WALTER, R. I., J. CHEM. EDUC., 42,524 (1965). The author acknowledges with appreciation the cooperation

of the following individnaleProfessor Rodger P. Staiger of Ursinus College, Collegeville, Pennsylvania; and Professor Earold A. Neidig of Lebanon Valley College, Annville, Pennsyl- vania.

Changing Curriculum in Chemistry, 111

New Curricular Features

in Some Liberal Arts Colleges

students who enter their more advanced courses. Both students and faculty feel that the combined course effects efficiencies in the presentation of material which are not possible when the three subjects are offered separately.

The chemistry department takes advantage of this course to permit specially qualified students to schedule physical chemistry during their sophomore year. The more normal program includes organic chemistry during the sophomore year, followed by physical chem- istry during the junior year.

Lebanon Valley College

Entering studcnts a t Lebanon Valley College are given the ACS cooperative examination in general chemistry as a placement examination. Their high school records and their grades on standard examina- tions, such as those of the College Entrance Examina- tion Board, are evaluated, and they are also inter- viewed twice. On the basis of this information, about ten percent of the freshman students are permitted to enroll directly in the sophomore course in chemistry.

The first semester of this course begins with a rapid survey of the nomenclature and descriptive chemistry of the common functional groups in organic chemistry. Conventional preparative-type laboratory work ac- companies this part of the course, which lasts about eight weeks. The remainder of the first semester is devoted to a detailed treatment of acid-base t.heory. This includes consideration of effects of substitution on the strengths of aliphatic and aromatic acids, the acid dissociation constants of aliphatic dibasic acids, and the Hammett acidity function. Laboratory work illus- trates some of these points through a study of the ioni- zation constants and esterification rates for substituted benzoic acids, and the a ~ ~ l i c a t i o n of the Hammett . . equation to these systems.

This paper is one of a series which follow from the study made by the Committee on Currioulum of the Division of Chemical Education. The statistical summaries and wnclusions were presented by Dr. Walter at the Atlantio City Meeting of the ACS in September, 1965 and appeared in this Journal, 42, 524 (1965). Other papers in that symposium were published in the March, 1966 issue of this Journal 43, 112ff (1966). We call readers' attention to the editorial comments presented there and to the invitation to describe other curricular experiments in these pages.

Volume 43, Number 10, Odober 1966 / 561

The second semester opens with a study of chemical kinetics in which the students are trained to determine reaction rates and interpret them in terms of mech- anisms. The examples are all taken from organic chemistry. The final six weeks of the semester are devoted to a detailed study of six organic functional groups in monofunctional systems: the carbon- hydrogen bond, carbon-halogen bond, carbon-carbon

double bond, the hydroxyl group, the carbonyl group, and the carboxyl group. The stereochemistry and reaction mechanisms involved are considered in detail, and illustrated in the laboratory work.

Those students who are not assigned to this course as freshmen enter a conventional first year course on the principles of chemistry. They follow this during the sophomore year with the course described above.

562 / Journal of Chemical Education