Chemical Education International, Vol. 2, Issue 1, 6-13, Published in August 3, 2001

Zafra M. Lerman
Institute for Science Education and Science Communication,
Columbia College Chicago, 600 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60605 USA
E-Mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT:

English dictionaries define visualizing as "forming a mental image or vision of something" (1).
In chemistry, visualization is extremely important; we are dealing with atoms and molecules which cannot be seen with the naked eye: we can only visualize them. Over the centuries, different models were produced to help scientists and the general public visualize the invisible.

In the past few years, when we talk about chemical visualization, we typically mean computer models. Although this type of visualization is extremely important, we must remember that different people visualize with different models -- just as we accept the realization that different people learn in different ways (Multiple Intelligences).

BODY OF THE TEXT:

One of the main global problems that still exists in attracting students to study chemistry is that many teachers still do not take into account the different styles of learning which different students have, such as the "Multiple Intelligences," by Howard Gardner of Harvard University (2).

Lately, "visualization" has become a buzzword, in both science and education.
However, what is typically meant by "visualization" is a computer image, which is all-too-often produced by the instructor. What is significant in the method developed by the Science Institute at Columbia College is that such visualizations are not produced by the instructor, but the students themselves produce the videos, DVDs, CD-ROMS, or other computer models. There is no better way of learning than by "doing it by yourself." It is important to understand that the accuracy of science is paramount in this approach, and is never sacrificed (3) (4).

The word "visualize" is defined as "To form a mental image or vision of; picture in the mind". Joe Nelson, a student at Columbia College, created the following artwork to illustrate the dictionary definition of visualization, as well as the process of visualizing a chemical bond in the mind:

Working for the past twenty years with university students who are non-science majors, many of them future communicators that will shape our future (7), it is our experience that most have already developed hostilities and resentment toward science before they enter college. For the past twelve years we are working with teachers and students from the Chicago Public Schools (the third largest school district in the U.S.). These experiences have made it obvious that new ways of teaching and assessing students must be developed in order to make science understandable to everybody regardless of their gender, race, or economic and cultural backgrounds (5).

The world's population is growing exponentially, and in October 2000 it has passed the 6,000,000,000 mark - as can be seen in the following graph:

We must develop methods to make science accessible to all the world population in order to avoid a class society divided -- not by royalty -- but by knowledge of science.

In order to avoid getting into this situation, we developed methods of teaching science that incorporate art, music, dance, drama, and cultural backgrounds (6). In the Science Institute at Columbia College, we do not practice what is termed "chalk and talk" teaching.


Students in the Science Institute visualize the chemical bond in whatever way they can best understand it, using their individual intelligences and the media of their choice.
Once the students devise the way to best visualize the chemical bond and present it to the class, experience shows that they retain the information longer (as much as fifteen years later when we followed students' understanding).

A group of students majoring in theater joined together to write and act out an original dramatic presentation of "Sodium and Chlorine: A Love Story", presented as a mock Shakespearean tragedy, for their chemistry class project. One of these students has become a famous actor; when the author went to see him backstage at a performance,this former student stated that he had forgotten many things he learned in school, but he vividly recalled the ionic bond, the Periodic Table, and other concepts from his chemistry class almost fifteen years earlier, because he had used theater to visualize these concepts.

Another Columbia student created an entertaining multimedia project titled "The Amazing Atom" to visualize the ionic bond of sodium and chlorine, and to illustrate different models of the atom.

The Science Institute also works with children in the informal setting of a dance studio.
These children learn basic science and then show their understanding of the concepts through dance. The following pictures show how these children danced to demonstrate the ionic bond in the formation of salt.

This method has also been employed in workshops conducted by the Science Institute to enhance the teaching skills of Chicago Public School teachers. These teachers create their own projects to communicate their understanding of scientific concepts covered in the workshops, as well as practice this method in their own classrooms. A group of teachers created "The Element Connection" as a parody of "The Love Connection" television show.
This creative theatrical presentation involved sending contestant Oxygen on dates with Helium (whom she found "too flighty"), Carbon (who had "too much energy -- he wanted to bond with anyone!") and finally with Iron, with whom Oxygen established a successful bond (it turned out they were "a little rusty at relationships").

The effectiveness of employing these methods in Chicago Public School classes can be seen by the excellent (and scientifically accurate) projects created by children, such as this artwork made by a seventh grade student:

Chicago Public Schools teachers who participate in Science Institute workshops and employ these methods in their classes have reported that seventh and eighth grade children (who previously would "never come close to the chemistry lab") now prefer to stay after school in chemistry clubs, rather than attending gym class. Many of these students have chosen to attend high schools which specialize in science and mathematics -- which never happened before in these teachers' experience. These graphs show the remarkable increase of teacher's classroom practices after the workshops in a (a) conducting science experiment daily or almost every day and (b) discussing with their students science careers weekly, compared to practices before the workshop and compared to national averages.

These methods have proven particularly effective at what our experience demonstrates are the crucial ages: the fifth grade (before children enter middle school), and the eighth grade (before children enter high school). This graph represents the achievement of students of teachers who attended our workshops, compared to those of students in the same school whose teachers did not attend our workshops.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to the National Science Foundation for support of this work through grants ESI-9619141; ESI-9253266; USE-9150524; and TPE-8955128.

"Sodium and Chlorine: A Love Story" was created and performed by Jackie Fisher, Debbie Jones,Roxanne Rogers, Bogwi Sithole, Brian Shaw, and Lori Watson.

"The Amazing Atom" was created by Peter Wikof.

"The Element Connection" was created and performed by Gloria McDaniel, Muriel Moseberry, and Joy Ward.

The "Periodic Table" dance was choreographed by Heidi Baumann Renteria, and performed by dancers from The Stairway of the Stars dance studio.

Thanks to Joe Nelson for his artwork illustrating various aspects of science visualization.

Thanks also to Martha Stefan for HTML Programming, and to Jeffrey S. Wade for his photography of live performances.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

(1) Funk & Wagnalls New International Dictionary of the English Language. J.G. Ferguson Publishing Co. (1993).

(2) Gardner, H.: Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice. HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. (1993).

(3) Kostecka, K. S., Lerman, Z. M., and Angelos, S. A.: Use of Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectroscopy in Non-Science Major Course Laboratory Experiments. J. Chem. Ed., 73 (6), 565-566, 1996.

(4) Lerman, Z.: Chemistry for Art and Communication Students: J. Chem. Ed., 63, 142, 1986.

(5) Lerman, Z. M.: "Chemistry Without Tears: Teaching Chemistry Through Music, Drama, Art and Sports" in Science Learning in the Informal Setting Symposium Proceedings, P. Heltne and L. Marquardt, editors: The Chicago Academy of Sciences (Chicago: 1988).

(6) Lerman, Z. M.: "Chemistry in Dance, Drawing, Drama and Daily Life" in 1989 ICASE YEARBOOK, Proceedings of the ICASE World Conference: CONASTA 37 on Science Education and the Quality of Life, B. Honeyman, editor: ASTA and ICASE (Canberra,Australia: 1989).

(7) Lerman, Z. M.: "Chemistry for the People Who Will Shape Our Future." Chemical Education Journal (CEJ), Vol. 4, No. 1 (2000). http://chem.sci.utsunomiya-u.ac.jp/v4n1/lerman/lerman.html#1

Last updated 15.05.02