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Recent articles have identified the plethora of chemical information existing currently on the World-Wide Web (WWW) available via the Internet (1). This information medium is particularly valuable because it represents a very up-to-date source of information. Site managers can update information and it can be "instantaneously visited" by someone. As an example, several current topics of chemical significance were highlighted in a nonmajor chemistry class held in January 1996 at our college. December 31, 1995, represented the last day that leaded gasoline could be sold for use in automobiles. In early January, the FDA approved the synthetic fat olestra for use in snack foods. Both of these topics provoked great interest in students as they brought up issues of relevance and interest to their lives that were currently being discussed in the news. The WWW was utilized extensively as a source of information and current updates. Print media, such as texts and reference manuals, have a much longer "lag-time" before current information can be typeset, printed, and accessed by a researcher.
Previous articles (1, 2) have focused on Internet use for upper-division classes, but we have found a useful way to bring the Internet into nonmajor and freshman level classes composed of 20-50 students. The student assignment was to find information on a chemical topic currently in the news by using the WWW and use that information to write a 2-3 page essay (3, 4). Using the Internet to
find information presents one issue not previously encountered when using encyclopedias, reference books, or textbooks, but an issue raised in previous editorials in this Journal (5, 6). That difference is that virtually anyone can post information on the WWW. Thus, the WWW can have
governmental organizations, environmental groups, large corporations, or just individuals posting their views. Hence, when searching a particular topic, students might find a very factual article, or they might find a very biased opinion statement posted on the Internet by some person or group. Since there is no referee, virtually anything can be (and often is) found on the WWW.
Rather than simply "telling students the answer", it is useful to encourage students to think analytically in order to be better informed consumers in our technological society. In these classes, students were required to write an essay detailing an issue of scientific interest currently being discussed in the news. Students were allowed to choose any web site as their source and were then required to determine the validity of that source by comparing and contrasting the views and facts presented there with some other source. By systematically working through the factual information (if any!) identified by the Internet source, the students were able to ascertain whether the claim was an exaggeration, or was a valid interpretation of the data. Students reported spending between 3 and 10 hours searching the WWW for this information.
The essays written by the students were expected to consist of three major components: a background information section, a discussion of the information presented on the WWW, and an analysis section in which the student critiques the information found from a source on the WWW.
This assignment worked well to bring the Internet and information from the WWW into the course. The
students overwhelmingly enjoyed this assignment and actually looked forward to writing their next essay. They felt a tremendous amount of self-confidence in being able to judge the claims made by some corporations/groups that might otherwise have been misleading. These students were becoming more informed consumers in the sense that they now could logically critique advertisements and articles presented in the media. Clearly, this is a goal we should desire in any literate adult in our society.
Literature Cited
- Mounts, R. D. J. Chem. Educ. 1996, 73, 68-71.
- Tissue, B. M. J. Chem. Educ. 1996, 73, 65-68.
- Markman, R. H.; Markman, P. T.; Waddell, M. L. 10 Steps in Writing the Research
Paper, 5th ed.; Barron: Woodbury, NY, 1994.
- Hodges, J. C.; Whitten, M. E. Hodges' Harbrace College Handbook; Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich: New York, 1982; p 420.
- Lagowski, J. J. J. Chem. Educ. 1995, 72, 669.
- Lagowski, J. J. J. Chem. Educ. 1995, 72, 957.
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