Intellectual Couch Potato?

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Chemical Education Today

Especially for High School Teachers by Diana S. Mason

Intellectual Couch Potato? Are we generating a new breed of potato? Think about your daily routine. About 70% of the time, before I leave the house in the morning, I have watched some of the Today Show and checked my email. I have a laptop computer with an Airport, so I can access the Internet from the couch and watch television simultaneously—the marvels of modern technology. Next, I go to my office at school and the first thing I do is turn on the computer and check email (usually there’s something new). What is next on the agenda depends on due dates of upcoming events. I would guess that 80% of my tasks have to do with generating some sort of document—lectures, official letters, editorials, grants, annual reports, etc., so I’m at my computer again involved with creative thought or surfing the Web, getting more ideas. After work, I go back home, turn on the television and my computer to multi-task again: watch the news, some athletic event of interest, a favorite show, catch up on email, start/finish a project… Sound familiar? I feel as though I live a rather typical life, but I fear that I may be on information overload. Do you remember life before the personal computer? What does this say for where we’ve been and where we’re going? The Information Age has brought us closer together. I know more about more people and events than I have ever known. I see this as a good thing. It is easy to keep in touch with friends. It is easy to buy and sell over the Internet, to seek answers on various questions, to gather facts, to improve your mind, etc. However, Joshua Benton of The Dallas Morning News1 cites a U.S. Department of Education report as stating, “Too many teachers make it into American classrooms without knowing the material they’re teaching…”. This concerns me greatly. With all the advantages afforded to

Secondary School Featured Articles 䊕 Feature: ACS National Meeting, Fall 2002, pp 904–916.

us in an affluent society, then how/why can this be true? Other things in the report mentioned by Benton include (1) criticism of the states for setting low standards for new teachers; (2) colleges of education spending too much time on classroom management and teaching techniques and not enough on subject area content in mathematics, literature, and science; and (3) a call to the states to make it easier for professionals to switch careers into teaching through alternative programs. On the other side of the debate, how can 3–4 months of training in an alternative program bring successful teaching practices into the classroom? Yes, we need more teachers, especially in mathematics and science. Getting the content to these prospective teachers is not a problem. There is the Web, there are many online courses available (more on the way) both in subject areas and pedagogy, and the number of conferences and workshops offered abound. The following pages go into great depth regarding all the wonderful talks, workshops, and entertaining events that you can attend at the Fall 2002, ACS National Meeting, August 18–20. However, you’ve got to get off the couch and attend! The High School Program is Monday, August 19, from 8:30 until 3:00 at the Park Plaza Hotel. Preregistration is $30. Mahatma Gandhi said, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” Notes 1. h t t p : / / w w w. d a l l a s n e w s . c o m / l a t e s t n e w s / s t o r i e s / 061202dnmetteachers.345d5.html (last accessed June 13, 2002).

JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu • Vol. 79 No. 8 August 2002 • Journal of Chemical Education

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