J. E. Bundschuh, A. A. El-Awady, B. G. Hughes,

and J. W. Kirkpatrick I Weekend Course for High School Western lllino~s Univers~ty Chemistry Teachers

Macomb, Illinois 61455 I During the past two years we have developed a program for An outline of the course entitled Chemical Calculations is

the continuing education of high school ~ h e m i s & ~ teachers. For one quarter-hour of graduate credit, teachers spend Fri-

listed in Tahle 2. More courses are planned inkhe future with some emphasis on remedial work. Hieh school teachers who

day evening and all day Saturday taking a special topics course. Typically, a class begins on Friday evening a t 7:00 p.m. and continues until 10:W o m . It reconvenes earlv on Saturdav

have taken the courses have responhed very favorably in course evaluation questionnaires and in practically every in- stance would like to enroll in future offerings. So far, 25 dif- ferent high school teachers have taken weekend chemistrv morning continuing until 4:00 p.m. Courses are arranged

through the Continuing Education Office, and hence a mini- mum credit hour charge is assessed and no subsequent fees need to he paid. Althoueh overniaht accommodations are

courses. Certainly this activity will eventually improve thk science preparation of entering college freshmen. Not sur- prisingly, the program increases the-rapport between the University chemistry faculty and regional high school chem- istry teachers and serves as an excellent medium for recruiting potentially good chemistry majors.

available in hotels and motels, dormitories provide the most inexpensive rates. Grades are assigned on the basis of oer- formanre on takr-home examinatick which are rerurncd vi;, normal mail. l'ht. rationale fur oflerinr werkend courses is that

Presented to the Midwestern American Chemical Society Meeting in Kansas Citv. Missouri. on October 28.1976.

although most high school chemistr;teachers continue t h e i ~ education beyond the bachelor's level, only a small Dercentaae actually enroll in graduate-level chemistry courses.lso, state requirements for teaching high school chemistry are not particularly stringent. For example, in order to teach chem- istry in most school districts in Illinois, a high school teacher must have completed 24 semester hours of physical science of which only 10 semester hours must he chemistry. Recently, the American Chemical Society drafted recommendations concerning the preparation of high school chemistry teachers.' These recommendations are presented in Tahle 1. Finallv.

'~uidelines-for the Preparation and Continuing Education of High School Chemistry Teachers, Second Draft, May 1976, by the Amen- can Chemical Society.

Table 1. Professional Components Recommended for All High School Chemistry Teacher. by the American Chemical Society

Academic Preoarorion

even weU-prepared high schooiteachers need to continue the;; education in chemistrv in order to strenethen their back- 28 semester hours in othe;&p&imental science

or sciences and 20 semester hou r s i n chemistry.

ground.; and t o keep up with the demand& modern dewl- upmen1 i in the field of chenktrv. Western Illinois L'nivrrsitv is situated in a predominantly-rural region in west-centri Illinois where high schools are scattered throughout a rela- tively large area, meaning that participants must travel as many as 80 mi in order to take a graduate course. Scheduling on the weekend has solved the problem of daily or weekly travel necessitated by normal course offerings. The concen- trated one-credit-hour course requires only one trip and easily fits into the crowded schedules of high school teachers even during the academic year. Topics chosen for weekend courses fall under one of two general headings and include

Professional Tmining 1 Professional preparation for teaching in general and for teaching

laboratory-centered science, including formal certification. 2 Ploferrional rerponribiiity for continuins education durins a

teachino career

Table 2. Chemical Calculations

Friday Evening 7:OO- 7:30 pm 7:30- 8:30 pm

Schedule

Registlation Review of some useful mathematical notations and operations; ryrtemr of uni ts (particularly 5. 1.1 A. Basic Principles of Chemistry

1) Chemical Calculations 2) Oxidation-Reduction Reactions 3) Atomic and Molecular Structure 4) The Periodic Table

B. General Interest Topics I) Toxic Inorganic Substances 2) Energy 3) Lecture Demonstrations

Ample time is made available for questions and discussion. In some instances, the interaction amona the hiah school

~ir&rrion Chemical Formulas and Equations: Volume, Mass. Density, and Specific Gravity; Atomic and Molecular weigntr, the ram- tom and t h e Mole Concept.

Concentration Uni ts ; Percent Comporition. Mole Fraction, Moiari tY. Normality, Molality. e + r ~ DiSCUIIion Empirical and Molecular Weights; Formulas of Compounds. Discu~sion Lunch Calculations involving garer DiscuIIion CaIc~Iati0n9 involving liquids a n d solutions D i l C U I I i O "

teachers themselves has proved to be a very viable learning experience. Enrollments have raneed from 6 to 16 with the co&es offered during the summer heing the most popular.

"Guidelines for the Preparation and Continuing Education of Secondary School Teachers of Chemistry"

During the Fall of 1977 the ACS will distribute a set of "Guidelines for the Preparation and Continuing Education of Secondary School Teachers of Chemistry", prepared by a taskforce of educators from all levels, to all superintendents of schools, colleges of education, de- partments of chemistry, professional organizations concerned with the teaching of chemistry at the secondary level in the United States, and local sections of the American Chemical Society. They will also be distributed to other interested persons on request to Dr. M. Passer, Director, Education Office, American Chemical Society, 1155 Sixteenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036.

Volume 54, Number 11, November 1977 1 693