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Navigating Chemical Information
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John W. Moore
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706-1396 |
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This issue is out of print. |
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In earlier ruminations on Info Glut (JCE: Software 1994 6C(1) 56), I argued that in order for chemical education information to be useful to the vast majority of us, it needed to be carefully selected and structured. I also suggested that the quantity of information available made it essential for the community of chemical educators to work cooperatively as a group to handle the tremendous volume of information available. Here I continue to develop that theme. Chemistry Navigator, the program in this issue, provides an excellent example of cooperative development. To see why, open the program and click on the credits button. The program was conceived by Jack Kotz while on sabbatical leave from SUNY Oneonta to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Jack wrote the first version with constant input from half a dozen or so people here in Madison, in particular Paul Schatz, Jon Holmes, Kathy Christoph, and Jim Kupsch. The latter two are not chemists but rather work in the UW-Madison Instructional Technology Support Center. Nevertheless, their input regarding screen design, navigation through the program, and programming details were invaluable. Molecular structures displayed in Chemistry Navigator were created using a CAChe Molecular modeling WorkSystem donated to the SUNY Oneonta Chemistry Department by CAChe Scientific. The tremendous research expertise embodied in this software allowed Chemistry Navigator to provide much better graphics than would otherwise have been available. Numeric data used to create graphs in the program came from a database carefully collected and edited some years ago for use in KC? Discoverer (JCE: Software 1988 1B(1) and 1992 SP-2). One of the design criteria for that database was that it should be useful in many other programs besides KC? Discoverer. There are two major parts of Chemistry Navigator: About the Elements and Portraits of Chemists. The latter contains a large number of images taken from the Oesper Collection, whose curator, William Jensen of the University of Cincinnati, was very helpful in the project. About the Elements contains a large number of photographic images of minerals, substances, and chemical reactions taken by Charles D. Winters and donated to the project by Saunders College Publishing. Also, the Periodic Table Videodisc 1 can be used with Chemistry Navigator, providing motion video images of many of the reactions of the elements and additional still images of elements and their commercial applications. Finally, the whole package was carefully edited by JCE: Software Technical Editor Nancy Gettys, who contributed significantly to the quality of the product. All of these contributions have been listed to emphasize the point that, like chemical research, instructional software development is no longer done by a single individual. Collaboration and cooperation are the order of the day, and a really excellent result can be obtained by building on and bringing together the work of diverse professionals, many of whom are not chemists. To put this another way, things are much more complicated than they were when the development computer was a 16K Apple II+ and a single teacher-programmer created software. The entire community of chemical educators needs to be aware of this fact and act accordingly. Within a month or two the National Science Foundation will officially announce several curriculum reform projects to be funded at a high level for the next three to five years. NSF is also funding many other smaller curriculum development and laboratory improvement grants. Many of these projects will, among other things, develop new, effective uses of technology to enhance student learning. Both the level of activity extant and the level of effort required to create an excellent product argue strongly for coordination of effort rather than competition. JCE: Software plans to work to achieve such a goal. We are currently maintaining a Gopher Server (jchemed.chem.wisc.edu) and a World Wide Web site (http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu) that contain lots of information about chemical education in general and technological tools for teaching in particular. Especially important is What's Happening in Chem. Ed?, a collection of descriptions of projects that people all over the country are working on. These are intended to report on works in progress, or even works conceived but not yet begun. The idea is to disseminate information about who is working on what, to avoid reinventing wheels, and to help establish productive collaborations. I strongly encourage anyone who is working on a project involving computers, video, multimedia, or other technology to contribute a description to What's Happening in Chem. Ed?. The format for doing so is described on the Gopher Server itself, or you can write for a printed copy from JCE: Software. JCE: Software's editorial function has recently been revamped to help provide better support for authors from conception of a project through publication. It is described in the Guide to Submissions that appears on pages 39 and 40. Like What's Happening, our editorial process is designed to foster collaborative efforts between authors and editors or between authors and other authors. Why not take advantage of it? JCE: Software's chief aim is to improve student learning of chemistry. We are interested in any and all ways that this can be accomplished. I hope that some of those described above will be useful to many readers, and I remain eager to learn of others that we might be able to implement. Please let me know your ideas. Literature Cited |
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Last Updated: April 26, 2001 Created: December 3, 1996 |
Created by: J. L. Holmes Comments to: jceonline@chem.wisc.edu |
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| © 1997 Division of Chemical Education, Inc., American Chemical Society. All rights reserved. | |