Thoughts on Chemical Education by J.J. Lagowski

 

Chemical education is a discipline that springs naturally from the recognition of three important observations: that chemistry is the central science; that chemistry is, and always has been, useful to the evolving progress of civilization; and that our understanding of chemistry is not, and probably never will be, complete. Chemistry is the central science because it deals with the molecularity of the world. Chemistry is useful because an understanding of its core principles lead to an understanding of many important problems, both practical and otherwise, in associated disciplines and in technology. Modern chemical research is focused on revealing new concepts or interactions between concepts a well as new facts that are important for a variety of reasons.

In this milieu, is it that surprising that the educational process becomes an important consideration in providing effective and efficient introduction to the varying aspects of chemistry at all levels of instruction? The "content" of chemistry is constantly shifting as are the reasons that people need to learn, understand, and apply that content. These are the elements that form the raison d'être for the subdiscipline of chemical education:

As in any discipline, scholarship possibilities abound. Boyer [E. Boyer, "Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professorate," The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Princeton, N. J., 1990] pointed out that scholarship can be expressed in numerous ways, viz., the scholarship of teaching, the scholarship of discovery, the scholarship of integration, and the scholarship of application. This definition of scholarship fits well with the basic elements of chemical education discussed above and provides the possible foci for research in chemical education. At The University of Texas (the one in Austin), numerous opportunities exist for research projects in the classical areas of chemistry-analytical chemistry, biochemistry, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, physical chemistry, and theoretical chemistry as well as in many areas of pedagogy and the application of modern technology.

 

Additional insights into the nature of the discipline of chemical education can be obtained from the following references:

 

1. "Chemical Education Research: A Report on the Task Force on Chemical Education Research of the American Chemical Society, Division of Chemical Education," Journal of Chemical Education, 1994, 71, 850.

2. "Research in Chemical Education-the Third Branch of Our Profession," Diane M. Bunce and William R. Robinson, Journal of Chemical Education, 1997, 71, 1076.