search.
As part of an effort to promote a more research-
friendly science curriculum ( l o ) , the second semester
course has an additional readinglwrit'mg assignment that
addresses the nature of scientific research.
Our introduction of the human side of scientific endeavor
into the course curriculum is modeled largely after efforts
in the Biology Department of Occidental College (11).As
an extra-credit project students are provided a biographi-
cal account of a scientist that deals with some aspect of
science research. Our choices of books in the two years we
have carried out this project have been Radiant Science,
Dark Politics (12)and Chase, Chance and Creativity (13).
Both of these books provide insight into the process of sci-
entific discovery that is well worth reading. They both em-
phasize in one manner or another the prominent role of
creativity in scientific research. The reports that students
write are not summaries of the books, but rather essays
that are keyed to a more personal exploration of their mo-
tivations for studying science. Students are encouraged to
write about aspects of science that are brought up in the
book that they found surprising. Other themes for papers
include comparisons of the student to the scientist who is
the biographic subject. Throughout, the overall emphasis
and net effect of the assignment is to introduce students to
aspects of science they had previously overlooked. This as-
signment alone appears to have increased the number of
students interested in exploring options that might lead to
research careers. Moreover, a net increase in chemistry
majors appears to have resulted from this assignment.
From the standpoint of the depersonalized atmosphere
of the course this assignment strikes a substantial blow.
By encouraging students to write about their opinions and
their own self perceptions the instructor automatically
gets to know more about the students. Again the ability to
write comments to the students as part of the correcting
process increases the personal communications that occur
in the course. For some students, this assignment ulti-
mately becomes a threshold event that changes not only
their undergraduate career but even their lifetime ambi-
tions.
In closing I would like to acknowledge the USD Faculty
Development Grant Program for its ongoing support of the
project described in this paper
Literature Cited
1. National Sdenee Foundation, T h e &isnee and Engineering Pipeline: PRAReport
67-2.April. 1987.
2. %bias, 9. T W r oNot Dumb, T W n f i f i r e n t : S t d k i i g t b &mnd '&?;Research
Corpaatian:Tusan, AZ. 1990.
3. GPske,J.Coll. Zh&. 1W2,40.151.
4. Tabias, 8. Rmitalking Undergmduofe Scisio: Reaeareh Carporetion: mmn, AZ,
1992.
5. H0lme.T A J. Cbm. Edue. lm8,inpress
6. H ~ l m eA. ~J. Ckm. Ed= aeapted forpublication.
7. Dk-m of the iunovatims made by H m c h b b h h be f f f d in refmnmz.
8. H0lmgrrn.P J.CoU. Sei. k h . 1SE+2,21,193.
9. Comer, M. 1Vholk Hoppning in Chemistry; American Chemical Society: NewYork,
1992.
10. Conference theme ofthe 4th Natimal Conference ofthe Council on Undergraduate
Reaeareh, Holland MI, 1992.
11. Hmper, L., talk given at mnfemee on "Elements ofResearch lnereaaing Student
Engagementin the EntnLevel8eienee Course', S c h e n d y . NY,1991.
12. Kame", M.R d a n t Scisna, Dark Polities: University of Calif-%
1995.
Berkeley, CA.
13. Austin. J. H. Chose, Ch-and Cleotiuily.Co1-bia UrUversity:New York, 1977.
Introducing Chemistry
to Chemical Engineering Students
Eduardo Jorae Bottani
lnstituto ae inv&igacmonesRs.mq~irnicasTeMcas
y Apllcadas (INF TA)
Corns on oe lnvesrigaciones C enrlcas de la Prov nca
de Buenos Aires (CIC)
and Facultad de lngenieria de la UNLP
C.C. 16 Suc. 4: RA-1900 La Plata. Argentina
The goal of this paper is to describe the changes we have
introduced in the general chemistry course for chemical
engineering students.
During 1988 the Faculty of Engineering decided to up-
date the curricula of all the degrees offered. This decision
started a generalized discussion that covered not onlv the
contents of each course but also the teaching methodology
that were in current use. As a result of this discussion the
annual general chemistry course was replaced by two
courses, one semester of general chemistry and one semes-
-
ter of inoreanic chemistm.
The methodological modification introduced in both
courses is based on the idea that it is better to teach in-
creasingly complex models as they are needed rather than
to follow the usual practlce of giving all theories, starting
with the simolest followed bv more refined treatments.
~~ ~-~~~~------..
like a historich review. To fully comprehend a given model:
students must be able to a ~ o l it
v to solve oractical or the-
oretical problems. ~eforereplacinga n imperfect model
with a new one, the student must he convinced of the ne-
cessity of this change. Nobody can deny the importance of
teaching the atomic structure of matter in general chemis-
try, but quantum mechanics is not required to understand
the subjects generally included in the course. So, why un-
necessarily introduce this subject? We certainly did it in
the past with several consequences. First we devoted some
time to this item to the detriment of other more important
subjects, and students could not comprehend its useful-
ness. Students who could manage quantum numbers did
not know or comprehend their meaning, they ignored the
origin of quantum numbers, and, finally, they acquired
false images of atomic orbitals. It is also true that current
textbooks are not so good in this area, but this is not a valid
excuse to introduce misconceptions that we must remove
later.
We moved quantum mechanics from the general chemis-
try to the inorganic chemistry course where it must be
used. In the latter course we devote three classes to intro-
duce quantum mechanics. We start showing some exam-
ples that support the necessity of a new theory (quantum
mechanics), we solve the problem of the particle in a one-
dimensional box t o show: how quantum numbers are de-
rived, the meaning of wave f&tions, energy levels, etc.
This approach produces a concept that is meanindul to the
students and one they can use rationalize some aspects
of the behavior of the elements.
The General Chemistry Course
The general chemistry course starts with matter and
material systems, atomic structure, chemical bond, gases,
liquids, solids, thermodynamics, chemical equilibrium, so-
lutions, colligative properties, chemical kinetics and elec-
trochemistry.
now we must teach, & a limikd time, the fundamental of
.
The m a t difference. in resoect to the old course. is
-~ that
~ - - ~ ~
"fundamentals" and the to~icsthat students usuallv -find
more complex. The course contains three different kind of
.
---~~
classes: lectures, seminars, and laboratory experiments.
Volume 70 Number 11 November 1993 935
 In the lectures, more-or-less developed in a classic fash-
ion, the professor presents each topic and describes the
main points. During seminars students must solve prob-
lems or answer ouestions related to the lecture. This task
can be done as homework or during the seminar time. Stu-
dents mostly prefer to do it as homework and to employ the
seminar time to discuss the answers with other students
and with the ~rofessor.Students s~ontaneouslvform dis-
cussion groups; and the professor does not explicitly give
the answers, but he guides them to fmd the answers. Sem-
inars are taken as informal classes where students have
more freedom than in a classiclecture, givingto the profes-
sor the opportunity to discover their difficulties and to help
them in a more personalized way.
Laboratory classes consist of selected experiments that
enable the students to reinforce the concepts, to acquire
the necessary experience in performing basic physico-
chemical calculations, and to get hands-on experience in a
laboratory.
Course evaluation is performed at two levels. At the first
level teaching assistants evaluate the ability to perform
calculations and the performance of students a t the labora-
tory. The second evaluation is done bv the ~ r o f e s s o r
through five cumulative examinations. Basic exams are
prepared for all the students. When a student shows diffi-
culties with one or more topics, special questions are added
to a subsequent test in order to determine if the difficulties
previously encountered have been solved. Once the tests
are evaluated, they are discussed with each student during
personal interviews in order to mark the topics needed to
be reviewed.
The Inorganic Chemistry Course
The goal of this course is to introduce the student to the
studv of chemical and nhvsical nrouerties. as well as the
behakor, of the elementk i n this'coirse wemix descriptive
inorganic chemistry with structural chemistry in order to
minimize the memorization needed in a traditional de-
scriptive course. We begin by developing the basic concepts
related to atomic, molecular, and hybrid orbitals. Then
each mu^ of elements is oresented with s ~ e c i aattention
l Course in Spectroscopy for the Nonscience Major
to the main properties of the elements bklonging to the
group, natural occurrence, isolation, purification, labora-
tory and industrial preparation methods, the most import-
ant compounds and their historic and modem uses, always
of the most relevant elements. Environmental aspects are
introduced in different parts of the course as an example of
the role of chemistry in solving problems; new materials
are mentioned in order to show the role of chemistry in the
improvement of our life quality; some examples are given
where chemistry contributes to the solution of interdisci-
plinary problems. We take each opportunity to show how
chemistry is present in our lives and its social and cultural
consequences. The lectures given by the professor are com-
plemented with seminars having the same organization
and purposes of those corresponding to the general chem-
i ~~-t"n course.
-- r Course Objective and Rationale
The laboratory is devoted to the preparation and charac-
terization of several elements and their compounds. These
activities are comolemented with the oreoiration., bv the
& . A with modem scientific equipment. We believe it is import-
students, of mondgraphs that require a relatively simple
-
- . search. This is done to develoo writ in^ skills
biblioera~hic
and because writing is also a very important activity that
contributes to the learnine Drocess. The evaluation of stu-
dents is decided in the same' way as in the general cbemis-
try course.
Under this new organization, the inadequate physical
and mathematical backgrounds usually encountered in
our students were partially dealt with by placing the gen-
eral chemistry course in the second semester of the first
936 Journal of Chemical Education
career year followed by the inorganic course. The teachine
staff is-the same for bbth courses assuring a great degree
of content homogeneity and methodological continuity. An-
other advantage of having the same teaching staff is that
we know exactly what we have taught in general chemis-
try and what le&l the students rearhed: tLerefore, we can
introduce minor corrections each year. This aluo avoids the
danger of performing drastic changes that usually result in
failed experiments with the consequent damage in the for-
mation of our students. We also devote a few minutes
~ - ~- at
- ~ - -~ -~~
-
the beginning of each class to explain the importance of the
topics discussed and how thev will relate to tonics that will
b'introduced later in the co;rse.
For the students the new methodology implies much
more personal work than in the past, nevertheless, they do
not disamee with it because under this svstem thev nlav
a n activerole in the learning process. students are a ~ ~ s
to attend the seminars with their books and any other
source of information that they consider useful. When they
spontaneously form working ~ O U D Sthev feel free to ex-
press their opinions within thegroup beciuse they are not
afraid of making mistakes and to be corrected by other stu-
dents. When the group fails to find the answer to a ques-
tion or problem they ask the professor or assistants for
help.
While evaluating this new system our first conclusion is
that perhaps it is not so impor& to discuss which funda-
mentals must be taught but, rather, the way in which we
teach them. Our experience, which was basically a change
in methodology with a minor revision in the contents, sup-
~ o r t this
s conclusion. This new svstem reouires the nrofes-
r~ ~ - - ~
Lor to be very efficient with respkct to th;time he devotes
to each subject and simultaueously to judge how deeply to
delve into each topic. We have obtained better results
teaching models and subjects that students could use in
the near future. We found that it is better to reduce the
time devoted to lectures in favor of seminars for the rea-
sons previously mentioned.
Models and Molecules: A Laboratory-Based
T. C. Werner and L. A. Hull
Union College
Schenectady,NY 12308
Recently, the faculty a t Union designed a new General
Education curriculum, requiring all students to take two
courses in basic or applied science, one of which shall haw
laboratories. This requirement has led to the development
of several new laboratory-based courses in science for non-
science majors. Models and Molecules, a chemistry course
for nonscience majors and the the subject of this paper, is
an example of one of the new courses developed for this
curriculum.
The course objective is to introduce chemical ~ r i n c i ~ l e s
to nonscience majors through the use of meas&ements
ant to introduce these students not only to the way that
chemists think but also to the types of tools that the chem-
ist uses in the late 20th c e n t u 6 . h the process, we hope to
demonstrate why these tools are required in modern chem-
istry. Finally, modem chemical instrumentation is increas-
ingly expensive to obtain and maintain and can be more
Presented at the Natonal Amencan Chemlca Soc~etyMeeung n
San Franc sco (Apr 1992) as pan of the 'Sympos Lm on Teach ng
Sclence wlth a Tecnno ogy Focus The New Ltoera Ans Program