Correspondence to the Organizer
Chemistry itself is largely international (this is the reason why there is such an organization as IUPAC). On the other hand, education can not be completely international since education in general is a part of culture which has deeply been influenced by the history, politics, economy and sociology of each country.
Thus, attitude toward education on environmental issue can be somewhat local depending on the situation of each country. On the other hand, from the viewpoint of conservation of the earth and human beings, chemical education for environmental issue should be international. Since the economy and the extent of industrialization is so different from one country to another among Asian countries, the problem(how far can we be international) is very crucial.
The most important thing is to exchange opinions and information freely. The purpose of this symposium is just to provide interested participants with such an opportunity.
Chemistry is an international subject and is taught in almost every country in the world. However, there are about 4,000 major and minor languages in the world. Now chemistry has to be taught in some language or the other. In many countries, it is taught in the students' first language. In many other countries, it is taught in a second language, which is often the language of the former colonial rulers. These countries do not seem to have given thought to the language in which chemistry is taught. A unique situation prevails in some countries in Asia with regard to chemical education. They have indeed given much thought to the medium of chemical education and even experimented by switching from one language medium to another. This paper discusses the language problems that have beset the teaching of chemistry in an Asian country.
Malaysian Chemical Education has undergone tremendous changes since the independent days in 1957. For the first thirty years or so after independence up to 1988, chemical education in Malaysia has followed the old colonial system of providing fundamentals in chemistry. During this period, chemistry if taught as a knowledge based subject with little connection to everyday life and the economy. Only chemistry graduates from the universities practice chemistry in their work. The general population have almost no realisation of how chemistry works or the relevance of chemical principles to their everyday life.
After 1988, the New Education Curriculum emphasizes on the relevance of chemistry to everyday life, besides providing the fundamental chemical knowledge. Chemical education at the universities also changes to accommodate the demands of industrialization. The emphasis on chemistry is two folds; one is to relate chemistry to everyday events and processes to make a better public understanding of chemistry and the applications of chemical principles; and the other is on manpower training to meet the needs of industrialization. Research and development in chemistry is also intensified to find new materials or develop indigenous processes for economic gains.
With the vision of achieving a developed nation status by the year 2020, Malaysia has targeted her chemical education for a better quality of life. This system of chemical education could provide a model for those developing countries in Asia to achieve greater competitiveness in a global market and a better standard of living for all.
While the phenomenal growth of Chemistry brings a sense of pride and achievement, chemical educators face the added challenge of what and how to teach the discipline in a rapidly changing world. With increasing focus on Asia, it is timely in this conference to have a symposium on "Is There a Unique Asian Chemical Education?"
The author's own concerns in this area have been stimulated by previous ICCEs, especially the 8th in Tokyo. As Singapore itself may be unique, the author shares attempts at ways educators in Singapore view Chemical Education. Discussion centers on the people's basic desire for education itself especially a science-based one, national trends where mere job creation in the 60s has been replaced by the emphases on sophisticated technology and globalisation today.
There has been increasing need for the international network among Chemical Educators in Asia-Pacific region. It was probably to meet this need that The Federation of Asian Chemical Societies decided, in its EXCO meeting in May 1995, to adopt a project entitled "The Asian Chemical Education Network." Following this decision, The Working Group on International Relations in Chemical Education in the Chemical Society of Japan, chaired by Prof. Takeuchi who is one of the Director of the above FACS project, is preparing for starting a network called "Asian Chemical Education Network" on World-Wide Web, an international computer network, aiming at exchanging information in chemical education of each country--curricula, materials ,tips and know-how, research reports, problems faced, all that might be useful or advisable for those in other countries--and through communication of questions and answers and other kind of styles.
Although computer-based, it should essentially be a human network open to anyone in the world, so is the World-Wide Web; it will be maintained by, available for, and possessed of all the chemical educators throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The outline of the initial structure of the Japanese contribution to the network is shown and future prospect will be presented.
Internet is widening into Asia-Pacific region, and increasing number of countries in this region is developing a network among chemists and chemical educators, both on domestic and international basis. These efforts will in the future be linked altogether to complete "The Asia-Pacific Chemical Education Network," which is expected to contributie the mutual advancement of chemical education in Asia-Pacific region.