A STUDY OF CHEMISTRY STUDENTS 675

A STUDY OF HIGH-SCHOOL CHEMISTRY STUDENTSELECTING CHEMISTRY IN COLLEGE

By RALPH E. DUNBAR AND ELGIE B. COACHER,Dakota Wesleyan University, Mitchell, S. Dak.

A study was made of the high-school and college tran-scripts of 631 degree graduates of a college of Arts andScience to determine whether high-school seniors offeringhigh-school credit in chemistry for college entrance showeda greater tendency to elect chemistry in college than thoseentering without the high-school credit in chemistry. Thisstudy covers the transcripts of all four-year graduates re-ceiving the B. S. or B. A. degree during the period of 1917to 1932 inclusive. The general plan of this survey wasmodeled somewhat after a similar survey in the state ofOklahoma (1). The tabulated findings follow:

TABLE ANumber of transcripts studied...-.�..............................�...........-.-..-631Number who entered college with high-school chemistry�..�.�193Per cent of total entering with high-school chemistry-..���� 30.58Number who entered college without high-school chemistry��438Per cent of total entering without high-school chemistry�� 69.42Number who studied chemistry in high-school and college�.---.113Per cent of those who had high-school chemistry who elected

college chemistry.�.������.����..�...������.���� 58.54Number who studied chemistry in college only�.�.�.�.� -�240Per cent of those who did not have high-school chemistry who

elected college chemistry����������������� 54.79Per cent of those who did not have high-school chemistry who

did not elect college chemistry��������������� 45.21Number who never studied chemistry at any time����.�194Per cent of total who never studied chemistry at any time-�--. 30.74Per cent of high-schools in South Dakota offering chemistry

(2) .--�-...-..����...��������..��-.--. 28

An examination of the data included in Table A indi-cates that 438 of the 631 students or 69.42 per cent hadreceived no chemistry during their period of high-schooltraining. This is partly due to the fact that only about 28per cent of the high-schools of South Dakota offer chem-istry. Further, only one year of science is required forgraduation by the state high-school course of study andmany students often elect some other science as generalscience, biology, or physics.

Probably the outstanding feature of this investigation isthe fact that there is a greater tendency for high-schoolgraduates with high-school credit in chemistry to selectthat subject in college, than for those without the high-

676 SCHOOL SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS

school work in chemistry. However, this difference is toosmall to be of great significance, only 3.75 per cent. Itshould be remembered, however, that college chemistry isnot and never has been a requirement for graduation atthis institution. The only science requirement for theB. A. degree is four credits from Biology, Chemistry, Geol-ogy, Physics, Home Economics, or Mathematics, out of atotal of thirty-six. Candidates for the B. S. degree selecta major subject from one of the above sciences and thencomplete at least nine majors out of the total of thirty-sixrequired for graduation. This would seem to be a ratherliberal minimum science requirement and students haveusually selected their science courses rather widely.

TABLE B�SOME COMPARISONS IN THE TWO STATESS. Dak. Okla.

Probable per cent of high-schools offering chemistry.... 28 12Per cent entering college with high-school chemistry.... 30.58 11Per cent of those who had high-school chemistry who

elected college chemistry................................................ 58.54 50Per cent of those who did not have high-school chem- ,

istry who elected college chemistry-..--....---................. 54.79 43.2Per cent of total who never studied chemistry at anytime ................................................................................. 30.74 50.5

Several comparisons with the Oklahoma study areworthy of note. 11 per cent of the Oklahoma high-schoolseniors enter college with high-school credit in chemistry,while in South Dakota the per cent is 30.58. This differ-ence is probably due to at least three causes. First, thedifference in the general type of the two colleges surveyed.Second, to the number of high-schools offering chemistry inthe two states included. Otto and Inlow (1) suggest thatabout 12 per cent of the Oklahoma high-schools offer chem-istry, while Jensen (2) offers figures indicating that prob-ably about 28 per cent of the South Dakota high-schoolsoffer courses in chemistry. This would make the resultsproportionately about the same. Third, the two surveyscover slightly different periods. The Oklahoma survey cov-ers the period of 1920 to about 1929 inclusive, while theSouth Dakota survey covers the period of 1917 to 1932 in-clusive. Chemistry was a particularly popular subject dur-ing the World War and the years immediately following.The two studies indicate that 8.54 per cent more of the

students with high-school chemistry in South Dakota con-tinue their study than in Oklahoma, and 11.59 per cent of

A STUDY OF CHEMISTRY STUDENTS 677

those without the high-school work in chemistry. And,finally, 30.74 per cent of the college graduates covered inthis study never study chemistry at any time as comparedto 50.5 per cent in the Oklahoma study. Both of the lasttwo values are probably higher than is desirable, andhigher than necessary with a little united effort on the partof both the high-school and college instructors in chemistry.

One of the major objectives in the teaching of high-school chemistry should be to interest the high-school stu-dents in a further study in science and chemistry in par-ticular. This small difference of 3.75 per cent in thoseelecting college chemistry is too small to indicate anygreat accomplishment on the part of high-school teachersin this respect. The authors found that the students fromthe largest schools who had high-school chemistry weremore likely to continue the subject than those from thesmallest schools. This may be due to better equipped labo-ratories, better trained teachers, or to a selective factoramong the students.

Probably the most significant item that we as chemistryteachers need to consider is what became of that 41.46 percent of the students who studied chemistry in high-schooland did not pursue the subject further in college. Did theytry it out and decide they wanted no more of it? Wasn’tthe subject motivated? Were they kept out by excessiverequirements in other fields? And what became of the30.74 per cent of the students who never studied chemistryin either high-school or college ? We might repeat many ofthe same or similar questions. These and similar questionsare important to the teacher of chemistry and to the indi-vidual who desires to see chemical interest and informationextended to the general public. Every chemistry teachershould do all that is reasonably possible to make every high-school and college student, if not an active producer, atleast an appreciative consumer in chemistry.

LITERATURE CITED

(1) OTTO AND INLOW, "Do Students Who Study Chemistry in HighSchool Elect That Subject in College?" SCHOOL SCIENCE ANDMATHEMATICS, XXX, 292-4 (March, 1930). ,./, ,. .

(2) JENSEN, "High-School Science Survey of , South Dakota," J.Chem. Ed., 4, 897-904 (July, 1927). ...