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An element of controversy

Link: Dr Hasok Chang

Dr Hasok Chang is erasing the traditional divide between student and expert through an innovative new teaching model

About Dr Chang
History of chlorine
A new way of learning
History of Science & Technology Studies
Student views

Dr Hasok Chang

Undergraduate students engaged in research about the history of a well-known chemical element are learning about the many skills required to conduct academic research, thanks to an innovative teaching model developed by Dr Hasok Chang, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy of Science in the Department of Science & Technology Studies. The course, ‘Topics in the History of the Physical Sciences’, has been reworked to encourage a spirit of community, inquiry and innovation at undergraduate level. Many of the findings have led to interesting and original conclusions, which will soon be published in a book celebrating the outstanding research of the students involved.

About Dr Chang
As an undergraduate student at the California Institute of Technology, Dr Chang learned first-hand of the benefits of a research-based approach to learning, through a programme known as the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship. He says: “I found this method inspiring and have always been in favour of encouraging undergraduates to engage in original projects. I like to include research-based essays as part of the courses I teach and the results are often fantastic. The problem with this approach is that there is no appropriate route for getting the material published, because students are in their final year or within the confines of a course unit. I wanted to find a way to encourage research-based learning, which could be passed on from student to student for cumulative improvement, and this is how I came up with the idea for the course.”

Dr Chang found that traditional methods of assessment, such as essays or projects, often displayed elements of high-quality research with the potential for eventual publication. However, because students were working within the constraints of the course and the assignment, a thorough investigation of a topic was not possible: “Inheritance was a very important aspect of this course. Students began their project with the knowledge that their work would be inherited and used by other students, which creates higher levels of conscientiousness, more attention to detail and the atmosphere of a scholarly community where ideas are shared. It also erases the divide between ‘experts’ and students.”

David Nader

History of chlorine
The theme of the course, which has been running in its reworked format since 2000, is the history of the chemical element chlorine. This topic was chosen because of its flexibility and relevance to many disciplines, including chemistry, history, philosophy and physics. Dr Chang explains: “It was essential to choose a subject that could be explored from a variety of different viewpoints, as well as something that would be of interest to a diverse group of students. As a topic, chlorine was relatively unexplored, which ensured that the students could delve into the subject and find their own avenue of discovery. This also ensured that the interdisciplinary potential of the genre of ‘object biography’ could be exploited. To reach a reasonably complete view of the life of chlorine, we were forced to forge links between history of science, history of technology and history of medicine, between political history, economic history, military history and intellectual history, and between history of science, philosophy of science and science policy.”

Students David Nader (History & Philosophy of Science 2003) and Spasoje Marcinko (History, Philosophy & Social Studies of Science 2003) undertook an investigation of the use of chlorine chambers for treatment of influenza during the 1920s. Beginning with a simple line in a textbook, they began a research odyssey, which revealed that the creation of chlorine chambers for medicinal purposes was in fact supported by the US Chemical Warfare Service.

After its successful use as an ‘invisible’ weapon during the First World War, the Warfare Service undertook a more user-friendly promotion of chlorine, so that covert research of chemical warfare could continue. David says: “We worked very closely as a team throughout the project because, initially, there was very little primary or secondary source material to be found. However, as we delved further into the research, we found some very interesting historical facts, such as the discovery that President Coolidge, the then President of the United States, had undertaken a trial run of the chlorine chambers with his wife and reported his symptoms of influenza to be much improved!”

Spasoje Marcinko

Spasoje, who examined the decline of the popularity of chlorine chambers, says: “The research skills that I acquired during this course were invaluable. As there were no sources easily available on the topic, I had to approach my research creatively and seek out other sources. This involved contacting many academic experts, through one-to-one meetings and by email, and by the end of the course I felt more confident about my interpersonal skills and had learned about the etiquette of academic research.”

David received funding to undertake additional research, and has just returned from examining the archives of the military scientist Edward Bright Vedder, who conducted many experiments in this area, at the University of Rochester, New York. UCL’s undergraduate students benefit from learning in an environment where cutting-edge research is conducted. Why shouldn’t they make original research contributions themselves? “I found this method inspiring and have always been in favour of encouraging undergraduates to engage in original projects”

A new way of learning
Dr Chang says that the success of the course is based on the creation of a close academic community where ideas are shared: “The basic principle is that each student taking the course carries out an independent research project, but the projects are all related to each other and individual projects are handed down from year to year. This is essentially a directed community model of research-teaching integration. In this model, students take ownership of research projects. Learning is doing, not merely practice in preparation for something else. Trainee doctors treat real patients and trainee hairdressers cut real people’s hair, so there is no reason why students, who are trainee scholars, should not learn their trade by producing original knowledge.”

The principle of active learning simulates the workings of a research community, where strong links are established between students and experts. The course’s structure also encourages a collective spirit – students are encouraged to work together and share information when researching a closely related topic, while a part of the final exam involves answering detailed questions about other students’ topics.

History of Science & Technology Studies
Dr Chang’s work was supported by a secondment grant from UCL’s Education & Professional Development department, intended to allow academics to develop innovative educational methods appropriate to their disciplines. A small community of students and staff is in fact one of the main characteristics and strengths of the Department of Science & Technology Studies. Since its foundation in 1924, when it was the first department of its kind in the UK, its staff and students have questioned and examined the history and philosophy of science, science policy, and the ethics and public understanding of science.

Responding to intellectual developments in the subject, the department’s staff grew significantly in the 1990s, but with an average intake of 25 students per year, the dynamic between staff and students continues to thrive. Christian Guy (History & Philosophy of Science 2001) began the course exploring the findings of a famous experiment using chlorine, known as the Homestake Mine experiment. Further investigation unearthed a number of other earlier experiments, which contested the view that the Homestake Mine experiment was the first to detect solar neutrinos using chlorine. He found that the creation of an academic community was integral to the development and eventual success of his research.

Student views
Christian says: “The course is conducted through weekly meetings, which are a direct reversal of the normal system of rote learning presented through lectures. Instead, we became ‘lecturers’, discussing the progress of the research, what obstacles we had encountered and what discoveries we’d made. We all shared our progress with each other, which ensured that as well as learning about our own research, we could also offer advice to each other about valuable sources and research techniques.” Christian found that the skills acquired during the course have proved useful in his current career as an airline pilot: “The course teaches you how to identify quickly what information is relevant when conducting research with a large number of source materials. This proved invaluable during my training to become an airline pilot for Britannia Airways, as it involved a large amount of research.”

Emma Goddard (Physical Sciences 2003), who chose Christian’s research topic as the foundation of her own exploration of neutrinos, agrees: “I work as an Operations Manager for the NHS in the area of Accident and Emergencies, and a lot of my work involves writing papers and reports. Learning to keep notes and research records, as well as writing effectively, have proved useful in my current job.” Dr Chang believes that the department encourages the development of skills which are wide-ranging and adaptable to any career.

He says: “Throughout the degree, students learn how to write, research, analyse and communicate technical subjects in an effective way. Because of the nature of the courses offered by our department, students quickly learn how to cope simultaneously with multidisciplinary topics including history, science, philosophy and politics, to name but a few. As well as benefiting from the unique atmosphere between staff and students, I believe they graduate with increased confidence and the ability to choose from a number of career options.”

A recent graduate survey tracked the employment patterns of alumni of the BSc in History & Philosophy of Science. Conducted by Dr Joe Cain, Senior Lecturer in History & Philosophy of Biology, it found students enthusiastic about the course and the skills they acquired. “The whole idea is so exciting and inspiring. I’ve found it very challenging but ultimately rewarding”, wrote one student, while another described it as: “very satisfying to be producing original research, which gives a taste of the postgraduate experience. You learn a lot of skills useful for your dissertation, including time management, discipline and devising your own questions.” Emma enjoyed the challenge of working with Christian’s research topic, as well as preparing her own work for its eventual use by other students.

She says: “It was a unique experience knowing that someone else would be inheriting my work. It gave me greater motivation to ensure that my background material and overall research topic were clear and well researched.” A book, provisionally titled An Element of Controversy: The Life of Chlorine in Science, Medicine, Technology and War, will be published in 2005, detailing 11 projects from the course. The book is described as an object biography, but with a twist.

Dr Chang explains: “The book will not simply be a set of various interesting stories. In a personal biography, one might say that the common line that runs through the various stories of an individual’s life is his/her character; with chlorine, its highly reactive chemical character is largely responsible for its eventful life, both in chemical theory and in its often destructive practical applications. If we can inject what we consider to be scholarship into the normal process of teaching, there is no reason why teaching cannot serve as a process of producing research. Recently there has been a great deal of discussion about encouraging undergraduate students to engage in original research, and integrating teaching and research. Students are able to create knowledge, not simply absorb it. This course is at the forefront of this movement and I hope that its quality and accessibility will make it an ideal showcase to encourage students and teachers in numerous other institutions to take up similar challenges.”

To find out more about Dr Chang, use the link at the top of this article.