Switching students on to science ================================ CHEMCONF on-line conference September / October 1998 Call for papers and expressions of interest ------------------------------------------- In the fall of 1998 a CHEMCONF on-line conference will take place on the topic "Switching students on to science". The focus of the conference will be: "How do we develop and maintain interest in science among students?" It is a common observation that science is one of the most popular subjects with young school children. Nearly every child finds simple science experiments fascinating. By the age of 15 or 16, many, perhaps most, children have lost enthusiasm for science, or developed a positive dislike for the subject. This session will deal with a number of issues related to "turning students on" to science. Papers might deal with issues such as: ** What are we doing wrong that turns teenagers off science? ** What can we do to encourage students to pursue science careers and maintain their interest in the subject? ** What can be learnt from Science for non-scientists courses? There are many examples of flourishing Science for non-scientists courses at University. What does the success of these courses tell us about how to maintain interest at the school level? How can a University-level course restore interest in science that may have been lost at school? ** Is science inherently and unavoidably dull? If not, why don't our students appreciate its fascination? ** Are alternative teaching schemes and syllabi, such as the Salter's scheme in the UK, more successful at retaining interest in science? Can we adjust the course content or teaching style to enhance interest without diminishing the academic worth of a course? ** Is a science education essential for ALL students? If so, can we provide that with the current approaches? If not, how can the non-scientifically literate be meaningfully involved in scientific decision-making? ** Should the core element of science teaching be the use of computers rather than the physical and life sciences? ** Would teaching science largely through the World Wide Web encourage more students to develop a scientific interest? Papers may address these, or related issues. They may present research results, or may be more personal reports of what does or (does not) work at school or university level. They may be factual, or predominantly opinion-based. Papers from those in school or college environments are equally welcome. Success stories are especially welcome! If you have questions about the format of the conference or style of papers, or you would consider offering a paper for possible inclusion in this session, please contact the session chairman (address below). Important dates =============== February 1st 1998 - expressions of interest; please contact the session chairman with a tentative title for your paper. March 1st 1998 - firm title, list of authors and short abstract due. Early summer 1998 (date to be advised) - draft version of paper due. Late summer 1998 (date to be advised) - final version of paper due. September/October 1998 - on-line CHEMCONF session. Hugh Cartwright Session Chairman Dr Hugh Cartwright Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory Oxford University, England e-mail: Hugh.Cartwright@chemistry.oxford.ac.uk http://physchem.ox.ac.uk/~hmc Tel (UK) 1865 275 400 (reception) (UK) 1865 275 483 (direct) FAX (UK) 1865 275 410 chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)