Talking about Leaving: F a c t o r s Contributing to High aptitude for other disciplines, or the appeal of other majors.
The
Attrition R a t e s a m o n g Science, Mathematics &
Engineering Undergraduate Majors: Final Report to t h e
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation on an Ethnographic Inquiry
at S e v e n Institutions
Elaine Seyrnourand Nancy M. Hewln. University of Colorado,
Boulder, CO, 1994. xi + 544 pp. Figs. and tables. 21.4 x 27.2
cm.
This hook reports the results of a three-year project to discover,
and establish the relative importance of, factors having the great-
est hearing on the decisions of undergraduates a t four-year col-
leges and universities to switch from science, mathematics and
engineering (SME) majors into nonseience disciplines. Interviews
with 460 students constitute the raw data from which the report
See https://pubs.acs.org/sharingguidelines for options on how to legitimately share published articles.
was developed by ethnographic methods.
The two major conclusions are
1. that switchers and nan-switchers as groups do not differ
significantly in either ability or moral character and
2. t h a t both graups had similar difficulties and concerns
Downloaded via 103.7.63.51 on March 24, 2021 at 01:33:15 (UTC).
with their SME majors.
Switchers mentioned somewhat mare concerns than non-switch-
em, hut the graups were distinguished more by the greater inabil-
ity of switchers to cope with their difficulties. Twenty-three
concerns were identified as contributingto decisions to switch ma-
jors: the four mast significant being
1. lack or lass of interest in science,
2. the heliefthat a nonscience major would hemare interest-
ing or a better education,
3. p w r teaching by science faculty, and
4. feeling overwhelmed by the pace and load of curriculum
demands.
ees together with comments explaining the significance ofthe stu-
dents'statements, organized around themes of choice of major,
high school preparation, the difficulty of SME majors, the weed-
out process, the unsupportive culture, teaching and learning, is-
sues of career, money, time and lifestyle, gender issues, and
ethnicity issues.
The implications of the conclusions are discussed in a final
chapter. A far greater contribution to SME attrition comes from
problems with the structure afthe educational experience and cul-
ture of the discipline than from problems of personal inadequacy,
Reviewed in This Issue
Elaine S e y m o u r a n d N a n c y M. Hewitt, Talking about Leaving: Factors Lee D. Hansen
Contributing to High Attrition Rates among Science, Mathematics & Engineering
Undergraduate Majors: Final Report to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
on a n Ethnographic Inquiry at S e v e n Institutions
Douglas A. Skoog, Donald M. West, and F: James Holler, Analytical Chemistry: John Ganchoff
An Introduction, Sixth Edition
Seymour H. Mauskopf, editor, Chemical Sciences in t h e Modern World
Titles of Interest
Monographs
New Volumes in Continuting Series
A310 Journal of Chemical Education
central issues are pedagogy, assessment, and curriculum design;
all of which are contralled by the faculty and institution. The can-
clusions provide strong hypotheses explaining why national pro-
grams to increase recruitment of minority groups and women into
science, mathematics and engineering have failed and will con-
tinue to fail to reach their goals. Recruitment from these groups
has increased, but retention has not.
This hwk is not easy to read and is even more difficult to digest.
For the linear reader, the guideposts and structure that would assist
in quickly achieving an understanding of the overall message are
mostly absent. Introductory statements and conclusionsare difflcdt
to find and relate to the evidence. As it stands, the book is a useful
data repository and provides a solid foundation for discussion of the
subject of student attrition from SME majors. I t is hoped that the
authors will ~ u b l i s ha much shorter. carefullv edited version that
~~~ ~~
can b rrnd &rrt-asIly hy SME tr3rht.r~and thus have a s ~ ~ > t i c a r n
lmpner on reaehmg ~n the rcrenres. Although thrv would profit from
11,busy SME faculty memorri arc unllkrly ro rake the rmr 18, w : d
and digest this book in its present farm
L e e D. H a n s e n
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Brigham Young University
Provo. UT 84602
Analytical Chemistry: An Introduction, Sixth Edition
Douglas A. Skoog, Donaid M. West, and E James Holler. Saun-
ders College Publishing: New York, NY, 1994, xvi + 675 pp.
Figs. tables, and photos. 21.1 x 26.2 cm.
The sixth edition of this textbwkcantinues to be a n abbreviated
version of the authors Fundamentals ofAnalytiea1 Chemistry. The
authors state that the sixth edition is still intended for students
taking a broad range of scientific or pre-professional studies and
whose only exposure to analytical chemistry will be a one-semes-
ter or ane-quarter quantitative analysis course. The text can be
used for shorter sophomore-level chemistry major courses or
freshman-level laboratory courses. The authors intentions are to
provide a rigorous background in relevant chemical and physical
principles, develop in students an.appreciation of the problems in
evaluating experimental data, survey a wide range of modern
techniques, and teach skills for obtaining goad analytical data
with confidence. The text is well crafted and should achieve those
goals. Instrucrms whoare not fmuljar with earlirrcd~rionsofrh~s
text i h w l d include 11 tl~rit.cur1iid~,r3t1ons
Reviewer
A31 0
A31 0
George 0. Kaffman A311
A311
A31 2
A312
 Chapwrs are ordcwd in a fcmiliar fkshton .\n inrrodurrion rs- to enhance public understanding of science. The participants also
tablnshing the nardre of rhr analysis process, TPYWWF ~ #hfn s ~ eso. considered how to narrow the gap between historians of science on
lutlon chrmisrrv, e r r o r s a n d s r a t l s r r r i , and an e x t t n s ~ v e the one hand and chemical educators on the other as well as how
presentation of equilibrium concepts and applications make up to make the history of chemistry more relevant to its intended
the first portion of the text. The rigorous approach to doing equi- audience.
librium calculations along with approximations is presented and Now most of the papers presented a t the conference plus a num-
illustrated with solubility calculations of increasing complexity. A her of additional essays, 18 in all (by 18 contributors, five ofwhom
single chapter on gravimetry followed by nine chapters an the the- are women), have appeared in the third volume of "The Chemical
ory and applications of titrimetry appear next. One chapter eaeh Sciences in Society" series ( h o l d Thackray, series editor). Vary-
an patentiometry and eledrogravimetry and coulometry make up ing in form, content, and length (from three to 58 pp), some report
the treatment of electroanalytical chemistry. Next fallows five detailed, original research; some provide general plans for future
chapters an spectroscopy (instrumentation and theory, molecular research in major areas of scholarship; and some reflect on the
~ ~
.
ahsorotion. fluorescence. and atomic s h s a r ~ t i a nand emission).
'The next thrrc chnpwrs'covrr iepnmtwn t&hnlqueu rrrractmn
opportunities and challenges facing historians of the chemical sei-
ences and industries and their audiences.
and ion exrhmgr ,sn intndurtlon I,, chrumatumaphy, s d app11- Each essay is well documented, and the book includes a n 11-
rutwns ofrhronutug-l-aphy gc and lc Aehnprrr ahour ehrmncnls payr hlhl~ngrnphyand a ninc-page twocolumns prr pag*, index.
apparatus and unit operations and a chapter providing instruc- Thls wlumt udl be of mrerest ro hmronnns of ehrm>stryand uf
tions for a variety of traditional methods of analysis conclude the suenct.. chemlsti cuncerned w t h the h l . x m ~ofthmr sriencr, high
text. A set of appendices providing data, mathematical reviews, school and college chemical educators, science policy-makers, and
and a treatment of normality and equivalent weight is included. everyone concerned with the role of chemistry in modern society.
The writing is clear and concise. Numerous worked-out examples
are provided in eaeh chapter. Answers to about half of the exer- George 0. Kauffman
cises a t the end of each chapter are given. The authors state that California State University, Fresno
mast chapters can stand alone; thus, instructors can reorganize Fresno. CA 93740
material to fit their particular situations.
Changes appear in the sixth edition. Additional material has
been added to the statistics chapter and the chapter on atomic
spectroscopy. Some derivations have been placed in separate Fea-
tures sections. Computer applications found in the fifth edition
have been deleted because a separate text, using Mathcad, has
been published by one of the authors. The Features sections in-
clude more examples of analytical chemistry in diverse fields in
addition to extended explanations of complex ideas, historical
notes, and derivations.
Concern continues to he expressed (e.g., see editorial in Analyti-
cal Chemistry, July 1, 1994) about the disproportionate share al-
lotted to equilibrium calculations and titrimetry in introductory
analytical courses and texts. What analytical chemists do is not
being communicated s u f f k i e n t l This text-although giving can-
siderahle emphasis to titrimetry and corresponding equilibria-
does provide excellent presentations of f u n d a m e n t a l s of
electroanalytical chemistry, spectroscopy, and chromatography
.
with e x a m ~ l e ofcantemoorarv
s ,adications.
,. Those eontemolatine
changes awav from ~ r d d ~ t ttupics ~ ~ ~ in
a lt h r ~ v ~ o u r s r s ~ wi.1
t i l l find
thistvrt r f i c t i r r tool for srurlrnrs to u.;c in Iesrnlngahout an:%-
lytieal chemistry.

John Ganchoff
Elmhurst College
Elmhurst. IL 60126

Chemical Sciences in the Modern World

Seymour H. Mauskopf, Editor. Univenity of Pennsylvania Press:
Philadelphia, PA, 1993. Illus. xxii + 417 pp. 15.0 x 22.8 cm.
$39.95.
"Chemical Sciences in the Modern World," a wide-ranginginter-
national conference on the history of chemistry sponsored by the
Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry, organized by Sey-
mour H. Mauskopf, Professor of History at Duke University, and
Robert E. Kohler, Professor of the History and Sociology of Science
at the University of Pennsylvania, and attended by distinguished
historians afchemistrv and chemists from the United States. Can-
ada. France. Germanr Great Britain. and Israel as well as se-

leading scholars ofthe modern chemical sciences was to elicit new

insights on the challenges facing historians of science and on ways

Volume 71 Number 12 December 1994 A311