Research experiences and chemical education

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editorially /peaking Research Experiences and Chemical Education -

The importance of change-that it can occur in science, how it is brought about, and how it affects the structure of the subiect-is one of the most difficult aspects of chemistry to teach. Although some have attemptedto discuss the implications of change in chemistry, most teachers have adopted the point of view that students benefit the most from immersion in the process by which change comes about, viz., experience research. Perhaps this viewpoint is the more popular because of the difficulty of using language to describe the nuances of research nrocesses. the processes involved is certainly A verbal description 01 less meanineful to the neoohvte . . than i t is to someone who has done even a small amount of serious research. Discussion of research processes on a generic level quickly degenerates into a series of meaningless cliches which achieve full expression of the oedagogical richness inherent in the enterprise only when e;nhellis.hed by the details provided through firsthand rxprrience. It is the ditierence betwern rradinr almut the laws ofmotion or the implications of force being aiector quantity and underatanding, in a pwnnnl way, the nature of tht~term "balance" hy riding a hicycle. The furmer milv he achieved rather successtully through language, hut the latter possihly cannot. It is probably more effective to pruvide an opp(~rtunity ior students to experience "balancr" even if it involves falling off a "bicvcle" o&asionallv than it is to trv to discuss the process theoretically. For similar reasons, attempts to teach students about how change influences the course of chemical thought have generally followed the path of providing a research experience. Serious students of science (both majors and nonmajors) need to know, in the sense of experiencing, the wav in which change comes about in these disiiplines. '?he most effective, but probably not the most efficient, means to accomplish this goal involves providing an opportunity to obtain a meaningful research experience. This approach suffers in the modern system of formal education onseveral counts. Research hy its very nature cannot be scheduled, as is our want to do nowadays for most things educational. Research is labor intensive, which also goes counter to conventional modern educational practice. Additionally, research can he expensive with reference to consumables. These are the principle factors that mitigate against the widespread inclusion of a research component as an important part of science education. Each identifiable science undoubtedly still attempts to make some prnvision for their own majors; certainly the nonscience students have long been forgotten in this regard. Historically, the importance of early research experiences for science-oriented students has been recognized in the form Summer Science ui National Science t't,undation-s~~onsore~l Training I'rolcram rSSTP) inst~tutrsdesirnedfor high schuol students. be SSTP institutes were started in 1959ind continued for 23 years, a t which time the program was discon-

Linued because of national-level funding decisions. The Federally supported SSTP institutes were generally national in scope and, consequently, required considerable monies for travel and local accommodations for participants; funds to support local staff were also often involved. With such an oreanizational structure. the cost ner oarticinant could. and had. i;ewrne indeiensibly high in the &dern'budp;etary runtext: Althourh the SS'I'P institutes nroeram was discontinued in the early 1980s, the perceived*need remained. The void created bv the withdrawal of Federal funds is beine filled. partially a i d slowly, hy a variety of private efforts. ~ h e ; w r r n ; ewression of the SS'I'P institutes eenerallv has the same will as'the original ones, hut the fun&ng is decentralized. ?he institutes are more reeional in character. which means that trnvel allotments neeinot he large. Indeed the exprnses aswcii~teduith travel to and from the institute site are d t e n left n i the responsibility of each participant. In a number o i instnncrs, the SSTP site institution tcollrrv or universit\r) has been induced to provide local resources (faculty time, a modest supplies budget, laboratory. space) as its contribution to the .. . educaticmal process in the context o f a summer pnlgrarn involv~ngrrsearch partwipatlon. A serious prohlem for SSTP institutes involves living expenses if participants are drawn from sufficient distances so that they must "live in" rather than be "commuters." Although a "commuters' institute" probably is less expensive, these participants do not gain the real but less taneihle benefits from the dvnamics of informal interactions outside the classroom and laboratory environment available to "live in" narticinanta. Usuallv.onlv a modest amount of funds is needid for ioom and hoard in college1 university facilities. Some SSTP institute organizers have been successful in obtaining scholarship funds to defray these costs through local industrv state departments of education. or, if suffici&t lead time is&ailahle, ihrough the participant's local American Chemical Societv sectiun. Thus, with n little imagination and a reasonably dedicated effort,a number of successful SSTP institutes have been organized since the demise of the Federal program. Now is the time to start organizing SSTP institutes for Summer 1985. Such institutes provide the basis for affecting the attitude of high school science students towards chemistry. For any of a number of reasons, many high school science students do not know what i t means to do laboratory work in chemistry andlor of the challenges and opportunities chemistry can provide. Chemically oriented SSTP institutes could be an effective wav to imwrove the sunnlv .. . of chemistrv. maiors * in undergraduate inst~tutiuns.Additionally, organizing and cmductin~:such institutes provides teachers with a difirrent kind of challenge and an opportunity todevelop administrative skills. Thus. hoth students and teacher-orrani~erican become stimulated and mentally refreshed. JJL

Volume 61

Number 7 July 1984

567