Creative, complex education, /
Socratic in STEM information /
With goals pedagogic /
Through mode dialogic: /
The art of a chem conversation.
This (non-NaPoWriMo) poem is inspired by a biography I encountered earlier this autumn: that of Jane Haldimand Marcet (1769-1858), who wrote a landmark chemistry textbook, Conversations on Chemistry. First published in the early 1800s, the book was used throughout the century and inspired several generations of aspiring scientists.
“Creative, complex education, /
Socratic in STEM information…”
Jane Marcet’s 1806 work was entitled Conversations on Chemistry: In Which The Elements of That Science Are Familiarly Explained and Illustrated by Experiments.
In the book, a teacher named Mrs. Bryant works through several complex chemistry concepts with her two students, Emily and Caroline. Due to the question-and-answer format (“Socratic in STEM information”), the presentation is quite readable, even centuries on.
I enjoyed this frank and clarifying acknowledgement of the way changing definitions can frustrate students; here, Caroline is first thinking of “elements” as only the classical four:
CAROLINE: “Yes; I know that all bodies are composed of fire, air, earth, and water; I learnt that many years ago.”
MRS. B. “But you must now endeavour to forget it. I have already informed you what a great change chemistry has undergone since it has become a regular science. Within these thirty years especially, it has experienced an entire revolution, and it is now proved, that neither fire, air, earth, nor water, can be called elementary bodies. For an elementary body is one that has never been decomposed, that is to say, separated into other substances; and fire, air, earth, and water, are all of them susceptible of decomposition.”
Quote from Jane Marcet’s Conversations on Chemistry
While this book was published a few decades before Dmitri Mendeleev’s periodic table (in 1869), the current understanding of “element,” as a substance that cannot be broken down into simpler substances, is evident in Mrs. Bryant’s discussion.
“With goals pedagogic /
Through mode dialogic…”
Marcet’s goal in writing her text was that it would teach chemistry to a wider audience, including female students and all students who would not have had access to formal education at the time (where traditional lectures would be the favored format).
She was successful. Her use of accessible language and familiar phenomena to describe science concepts was a ground-breaking step in science education. Her chemistry textbook reached wide audiences and received multiple reprintings (although she was not credited as the author for the first several editions). It was translated into several languages. Seven years after Marcet’s death, the first lab-based science course taught to women in the United States of America (in 1865 in Boston) would use her book in its curriculum.
“The art of a chem conversation.”
Marcet anticipated several trends in terms of today’s work in chemical education. Current science communication efforts often build on exchanges wherein challenging points can be clarified through conversations (such as a co-hosted podcast or a social media video). The idea of “flipping the classroom” aims to allow more interactive science learning, beyond lecture alone.
***
Two notable asides, here:
First, although I had not heard of Marcet herself until this autumn, her life and work intersected with those of two names I knew quite well already. Marcet was inspired to write her book after observing Sir Humphry Davy’s famous demonstrations and realizing that discussions afterwards were what helped her truly understand the underlying chemistry concepts. Years later, Michael Faraday would begin his scientific career as one of Davy’s assistants at the Royal Institution, then ultimately contribute huge insights to the fields of chemistry, physics, and science education on his own. Faraday had initially discovered his interest in electricity while working as an apprentice to a bookbinder… because one of the books that came into the shop happened to be Marcet’s text!
Second, I found it fascinating that one of Marcet’s friends was Mary Somerville, likewise famous for writing a 19th-century text that engaged with its scientific subject matter in a creative way, building on accessible examples (On the Connection of the Physical Sciences). Several clarifying illustrations and insights can be imagined in their conversations, as well.
Chemphasis 