Fall 1998 CONFCHEM Switching Students on to Science

Chemistry Within; Chemistry Without
Terence P. Kee and Patrick M. McGowan
School of Chemistry, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
[t.p.kee@chem.leeds.ac.uk and p.c.mcgowan@chem.leeds.ac.uk]

Summary:

Many textbooks currently on the market for the tertiary education sector have two features in common. They are frequently large, comprehensive surveys which can be used in a similar manner to encyclopaedia’s and they are primarily written to provide sufficient chemistry within a certain field (organic, inorganic, analytical, physical etc) to satisfy an undergraduate student over the course of a full degree scheme.

As teachers it is quite clear from our one-on-one sessions that students can find much of chemistry dry and lifeless, especially when compared to other higher profile areas such as medicinal, forensic and environmental sciences, each of which is seen as relevant, exciting, meaningful and financially rewarding! Many of our current texts do little to dispel this image.

Chemistry may in fact be doubly damned since not only can it frequently seem dry but it also has an image of being a difficult science, fuelled in part no doubt by attitudes within the academic community. Chemists have often thrived upon and glorified in this image but ultimately perhaps to the detriment of our future students.

We believe it is time for us to be bold by trying to help our students realise:

1. Chemistry is a powerful force in modern society.
2. This power stems from the variety and flexibility of the uses of chemistry.
3. That with power; comes responsibility.
4. That with responsibility comes the need to act.
5. That taking action requires a knowledge of how chemical applications and their consequences depend upon fundamental chemical principles.

It is our belief that student motivation can only come from within the student themselves and that this motivation can only be stimulated, not implanted, by teachers such as ourselves. Students will motivate themselves when the right buttons for them are pressed, when they themselves recognise the importance and significance of what they themselves are learning. It is our job, as teachers, to inspire them, to encourage them, to challenge, disturb and push them so that each student feels the desire to get the best from their efforts. We offer Chemistry Within; Chemistry Without as our attempt at this result.