The Chemistry of Teaching

Chemistry teacher Peter MacDonald is as colorful as the orange and beige firebrick walls of Room 212, a room where there is no escape from science. A periodic table of elements straddles the left wall. Front and centre a chalkboard is splattered in seemingly random chemical errata and the day's lesson. Behind the students a display on chemistry in Canada captures roaming eyes and turned heads. To the right, facing the door but trapped between two meshed-in windows, Albert Einstein in full-length poster form peers mournfully at the room's only exit.

MacDonald no sooner turns his back to the Grade 11 class than the familiar whir of a pencil sharpener disrupts his concentration. He bellows suddenly, "Higgins! You sit here for five minutes and then sharpen your pencil?" The student nods sheepishly. For 45 minutes MacDonald works the classroom like a politician, alternately demanding answers and responding to questions as he paces in front of the class and spews forth a lighthearted lesson on balancing chemical equations. He has a genuine rapport with his students, evidenced by their willingness to tease him about his age, receding hairline and height.

At just over five feet tall, MacDonald is likely the shortest person in the room but although authoritative, is respected and liked by his class. Even on tip-toe, the diminutive teacher can't reach the top of the chalkboard. He sports the typical white lab coat, emblazoned with the motto, "old chemists never die, they just fail to react." Prematurely grey, MacDonald looks as though he has spent several decades in front of a succession of science students.

In normal street garb--sweater and jeans--MacDonald looks surprisingly human. In his life outside the classroom he's happily married to wife, Cindy, and has three sons--Scott, 8, Brennan, 5, and Colin, 2--plus another child on the way. Despite the hair, he's only 33. A graduate of St. Mary's University, he has more letters behind his name than the periodic table has rare earth elements. BSc, BEd, and MA were his first three degrees, and he is working toward a fourth, a Masters of Education in Science Curriculum.

Confident, articulate and approachable, MacDonald is a popular figure at Charles P. Allen high school. Among the first staff to teach at the school, he remembers his first year vividly.

"It was rough," he recalls. "School started Sept. 3 and I was hired Aug. 27. 1 had no time to prepare and I was teaching five different courses, two Grade 11 chemistry, two Grade 12 chemistry, and Grade 10 biology." He sighs and rolls his eyes. "That was the first and last time I taught biology.

The first year may have been tough, but MacDonald liked the job. Eleven years and more than 1500 students later, he's still at it, although the philosophy of teaching has shifted from an emphasis on content to a focus on the learning process.

"The goal now is to find out where students are in a knowledge base, and build upon it," he says. "Although we still teach to the middle group or the average student, all have an equal opportunity to participate in the activities of science."

MacDonald says one of the system's flaws is its emphasis on university preparatory classes. He says in three years students should build a knowledge base so they can continue with further study, but developing an awareness and appreciation for science and technology is more important. A new non-university preparatory class in practical chemistry will be introduced soon.

"There is a thought change that is taking place," he says. "We've been forcing students to leam information that they'll never use. Maybe 10 per cent of students would go on to study chemisty in university, and that's an injustice to the other 90 (per cent)."

MacDonald says chemistry should teach discipline and methodical thinking. Only those who pursue careers in science, medicine, nursing, and engineering will use the chemical knowledge they acquire, but all students need the analytical skills chemistry imparts.

Methods of teaching evolve as educators learn more about how students learn. Junior high students are learning an activity-oriented approach geared toward participation rather than straight memorization and regurgitation. MacDonald says as these students reach high school they are more demanding of their teachers, who must try to take those same junior high methods and adapt them to the Grade 11 and 12 curriculum.

"The approach they've learned has affected how we teach them," he explains. "They are more inquisitive. They question more and keep us on our toes. Learning is questioning," he emphasizes. "Laboratory verification is not science. The emphasis should be on process, not product."

The evolution of learning evokes a further evolution of teaching, as educators look for new ways to stimulate young minds. The idea is to creatively instruct so that students get the same knowledge regardless of the method. MacDonald says there are certain curriculum objectives that must be met during the year. The key to successful teaching is in how educators meet those objectives.

MacDonald belongs to the new school of teachers who believe classes shouldn't memorize every molecule of information; an important part of learning is to be able to use sources. He has two notable excaptions to this rule: students must memorize "common ions of elements" and they must know "MacDonald's theme".

Early in his teaching career MacDonald was convinced that students do not read their textbooks, and mostly in jest, took the first paragraph of chapter one of the Grade 11 text as his theme. It was five years before anyone caught on. His class can recite it on demand.

A favorite teaching tool has been the science fair project. Students are encouraged to develop independent ideas, research topics fully and make careful evaluations based on procedure and logical thought. For three of the past five years, MacDonald has been the chief science fair judge for the region. Several C.P. Allen students have been recognized provincially and nationally for their projects. Last year Mike Parsons won the gold medal for physical science at the Canadian Science Fair.

MacDonald says although Parson's project was exceptional, many students succeed with less complicated ideas."lt does not have to be a high tech project. Judges want to see logical thoughts. It is the process, not the product that matters.

Back in the classroom, MacDonald describes his style as "firm, but friendly" and says he has a good rapport with his students. Grade 12 student Natalie Parsons enjoys his classes so much she'd take every subject from him if she could.

Saying "democracy ends at the door[way]", MacDonald admits to having a wacky sense of humor. He tells students about his own Grade 11 teacher, who would sit in a chair and write on the blackboard using a four-foot length of curtain rod with a piece of chalk stuck in the end.

"By telling stories, students get an appreciation for a teacher as a human being, who once was a teenager like them."

It hasn't been that long since MacDonald was a teenager. He grew up in north-end Halifax and by Grade 11 his talents as a teacher were becoming obvious. He spent lunch hours tutoring his classmates and was dubbed "little Ray" for his efforts. His teacher was Big Ray. He had planned to study dentistry but more tutoring at St. Mary's University convinced him that education was his calling. After finishing his BSc he went into education. He was the first and last practice teacher in Chemistry to darken the doors of C.P.Allen.

MacDonald says there are very few high school chemistry teachers who majored in chemistry at university. Most people with talents in chemistry are streamlined into medicine or pharmacy, or go to industry where financial rewards are greater.

A firm believer that education is a lifelong process, MacDonald has expanded his teaching repertoire to include night courses for adults. A self-confessed workaholic, he teaches evening and summer school courses to university and former high school students who need chemistry for career advancement or entry to a specific program like nursing. In a classroomwhere students' ages vary from 20 to 50, most of his students are women. He has served on the Bedford Waters Advisory Committee and is vice-chair of the St. Ignatius Parish Council, He is an avid downhill skier by winter, and rightfield softball fanatic by summer.

At the high school level, MacDonald often chaperones dances and ski trips, and is a member of several committees. After students participated in recent 24-hour fast, he helped cook pancakes for breakfast the next morning.

Claiming to be an "excellent" cook, he says chicken Kiev and beef bourguignon, plus "absolutely all the barbecuing" are his specialties. He says he lets the chemistry slide in the kitchen and the precision of cooking measurements is not quite that of the lab.

"I used to pretend I was a male chauvinist and tell lots of horrible things about my wife. The kids can't wait to meet her so they can tell her about the things I say." He may lead his class to believe he never does housework, but last year a student came to the door only to find him up to his elbows in dish soap. "They know it's all in fun. It's not degrading, just in jest."

Not that Cindy would be surprised. A former amateur figure skater, she was bamboozled by radio annoucer Jerry Lawrence on Hello, Metro into believing a professional skating show needed her talents. She fell for it hook, line and sinker. Peter, of course, was behind the practical joke.

Although he enjoys his hectic lifestyle, this year has been busier than most. "Very rarely a night goes by when I'm not working on something. It seems every free moment is given to university work, marking or preparing for class. I used to say no school on Friday and Saturday nights, but not this year. And this is the first year since 1985 that I'm not involved with the science fair."

Given MacDonald's talents, one would expect him to aspire greater teaching endeavors. In fact, his lifelong ambition is to build houses; he says he "loves" construction. When his house on Lake Drive was built a few years ago, he tested his skills first hand. As a university student, he painted houses during the day, tutored in the evening, and marked papers during the wee hours of his summer vacations. But he still loves the classroom.

"It takes a certain personality to teach. There are more and more demands placed upon teachers; students are more complex and teachers have to deal with student problems in different ways. They have to look at why a student is not feeling up to par, and take those factors into consideration. The reasons for not having an assignment done are usually legitimate."

MacDonald says he is "happy and content with the school system at present," but knows changes are coming. He says a complete evaluation of the school system is taking place at the Halifax County / Bedford School Board.

The study looks at education into the year 2000 and involves students, parents, teachers, supervisors and school board members. It is examining needs and concerns of this group and will make decisions based on them, he says.

For his part, MacDonald is trying to adapt his own pedagogical strategies to be learner-based. Major changes don't happen overnight.

"When I first started, the principal said it would take about four years to get comfortable. After nine years, I wanted to look closer at innovative ideas for teaching.There have not been as many changes as I'd hoped.

"I'm a non-traditionalist. I have to enjoy what I'm doing and try to impart my enthusiasm for a subject. I couldn't just stand there and disseminate. I'm an intense person and I've earned my ulcer.

"And my receding hairline," he quips.

This page last updated September 6, 1995.