TRENDS: WHAT'S HAPPENING TO DESCRIP- TIVE INORGANIC CHEMISTRY?'

DOUGLAS G. NICHOLSON East Tennessee State College, Johnson City, Tennessee

CHANGE, as such, is characteristic of our present-day civilization. Our habits, mode of travel, recreation, courses of study, and our daily activities are materially different than those of 15 years ago. Each technical development and scientific discovery has had its effect on the activities and behavior of the human race. Certain of these are relatively insignificant while others are far-reaching in scope.

The development of nuclear chemistry has greatly affected the subject matter content of our science courses. Items are now included which were unheard of a generation back. In addition, the topic "nuclear chemistry" is practically inseparable from that of ' 6 nuclear physics." Thus the gap between the sciences of physics and chemistry (if any) is materially nar- rower than it was a few years ago.

This trend toward closer association of physics and chemistry is reflected in the content and style of our more recently written textbooks. The "physical approach" in the introduction to chemistry is cur- rently being stressed more extensively than it was 10-16 years ago. Obviously text authors have had to reduce or omit space devoted to subject matter for- merly included, in order to incorporate these newer developments. The same may be said for the teacher's allotment of course time.

An examination of several recently written general chiinistry textbooks reveals a definite emphasis on the physical approach with a corresponding reduction in the space formerly devoted to a descriptive treatment

a conversion (equivalent) table containing nine items, all within the initial five pages of the text. Obviously there are very few unessential statements and a minimum of comparative examples and illustrations. Such a text may be ideal for superior students, but should prove quite difficult for the "mine-run" of recent graduates from our secondary schools.

F ~ l l e r , ~ in discussing the humanistic values of the study of chemistry, has mentioned the need for a balance between descriptive and theoretical subject matter and has stressed the "communicative power of well-defined words" in chemistry. Sislera has de- scribed the possibilities and potentialities of inorganic chemistry in the college chemistry curriculum. In keeping with these concepts, I am not suggesting or intending that the present general chemistry course be diluted in subject content, but am of the firm opinion that a more even balance between descriptive and theoretical treatment would result in greater ap- peal, and possibly better understanding, by students who have had very little past contact or experience with such an approach.

In an effort to gain some sort of qualitative informa- tion to support the concept that current textbooks in general chemistry have a physical approach, 11 such texts published during the nine-year period 1946-55 were examined. A count was made of the number of text pages devoted to the topics: (1) halogens, hydro-halogens, and oxy-compounds of the halogens, as well as (2) sulfur, hydrogen sulfide, and oxy-com-

schoimtic failures is not greater than is evident. I TABLE 1

believe +,hat a descriptive introduction, with Paw Space Devoted to Two Collective Topics in Each of Eleven General Chemistry Texts Written During 194655

ample illustrations and examples, followed by the heavier physical approach-as the student's mind be- -Topic considered and space zn page-

Wnfnnmm H X S?, l f i r r H.P - - - . . -, -- - - , - - ., - . , . - .- , comes able to assimilate the material-would lead to ROO^ year om,mmnounda ozides andocid? .~.- ~~ ~.~~~ ~~

~ ~ ~~~~~

more thorough comprehension of the subject. number published Chapters Pages chapters Pages

Examination of one general chemistry textbook, 1 1946 4 37 2 21 published within the three years, reveals the 2 1949 2 33 2 27

3 following: (1) topics such as atoms, atomic weights, 4, 1950 3 27 2 20 1951 4 45 2 25

isotones. and Avoeadro's number are discussed (brieffv) 5 1952 2 23 2 20 ~* , in the initial 10 pages; (2) valence and radicalsare d k 1952 1 17 1 12

1954 2 18 2 20 cussed within the initial 28 pages; with (3) the metric 8 1954 2 22 2 20 system covered in a total of 57 lines of text space and 9 1954 1 18 2 11

10 1055 1 15 1 11 Presented before the Division of Chemical Education at 11 1955 1 18 1 16

the 128th Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Minne- . hi^ text is known t,, the descriptive approach, apolia, September, 1955.

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JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION

TABLE 2 R-h end Training of General Chsrnisttnr Textbook

Authors

Field of Ph.D. research Inorganic chemistry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Other than inoreanic". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Present research interests Whole or partially inorganic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Partidly analytical. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Partiallvindustrial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 ~ ~

Partially organic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Whole or partially physical. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 -

26*

' Certain universities do not grant Ph.D. degrees in specifio fields of chemistry. Thus this item may include additional in- dividuals whose degree was in inorganic:

The total number of individuals listed exceeds the total num- ber of authors and oo-authors because some individuals exmess &

dual research-field interest, such as ohvsical-oreanic. etc.

pounds and acids of sulfur. Full-page cuts and full- page tabular data as well as space devoted to exercises a t the end of chapters were not included in this survey. This information is summarized in Table 1.

The training and major fields of research interest of the 17 authors and co-authors of the 11 texts were ob- tained from the biographical information in "American Men of Science." This information is listed in Table ', A.

Data appearing in Table 1 show a trend toward re- ducing the text space devoted to two general topics

which could be given generous descriptive coverage, while information contained in Table 2 indicates that the majority of text authors and co-authors have an interest in physical chemistry investigations.

While a text in general chemistry should cover the entire field with equal stress and emphasis on each of the several important phases, it is logical to assume (and understand) that a writer will unconsciously stress those phases and aspects of the subject which are most interesting and real to him, a t the expense of topics in which he is less directly interested. Thus it appears quite natural for one who is primarily iu- terested in physical chemical research to approach the subject of general chemistry from the viewpoint which is closest to his heart.

This present-day trend of stressing the physical approach may be due to the influence of modern de- velopments in nuclear chemistry, the background and training of the author(s), or a combination of both. I firmly believe that descriptive coverage is a vital part of the introductory course and should not be sacrificed. Could it be that this present trend could be a partial cause of our current scarcity of potential chemistry majors? Are we literally scaring them out of cou- tinued study before they have an opportunity to de- clare a major? Let us hope that the pendulum of trends swings back to a happy medium balance in the not-too-distant future.