The 1976 Biennial Conference on Chemical Education

The 1976 BCCE was foundational and transformative in offering innovative programming connecting basic re­search in chemistry and education pedagogy with faculty and teachers at all educational levels. I served as general chair and Jerry Bell from Simmons College was program chair.

We scheduled five Catalytic Lectures to provoke thought and help focus discussions on important aspects of chemistry and chemical education:

I. Consequence-Oriented Instruction for Chemical Educators, W. James Popham, Graduate School of Education, University of California-Los Angeles

II. What Goes Up Stays Up: Models for Stratospheric Chemistry, F. Sherwood Rowland, Department of Chemistry, University of California-Irvine

III. The Chemistry Machine, Kent R. Wilson, Department of Chemistry, University of California-San Diego

IV. General Synthetic Strategies and Their Applications in Computer-Assisted Synthetic Analysis, William L. Jorgensen, Department of Chemistry, Purdue University

V. Quo Vadis Chemical Education, Gilbert P. Haight, Jr., Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois, Chair of the ACS Division of Chemical Education

A special salute to the Bicentennial (USA) and Centennial (ACS) celebrations was aimed at showing how the history of science can be used effectively in teaching chemistry.

Another new feature was commercial exhibits dealing with textbooks, laboratory equipment and instruments, and other educational material. We included in the exhibit session demonstrations of the use of computers in chemical education particularly in the area of simulation.

The 1976 conference theme was “Participant-Paced Programming.” Scheduling only single sessions enabled each participant to take part in any or all of the conference events. The conference schedule format included traditional and new features: the traditional lecture mode, five-minute talks followed by 15-minute participation from the audience, and ex­hibit sessions.

As the biennial conference returns to Madison for the first time in 50 years, I note happily the upcoming symposium honoring Cathy Middlecamp, who in 1976 was a UW-Mad­ison PhD graduate student, and the upcoming symposium honoring John Moore, who was in 1976 at Eastern Michigan University and who organized the minicomputer exhibit session. I am grateful to the speakers at the upcoming Looking Around, LOOKING AHEAD with Bassam Shakhashiri symposium and The Art, Practice, and Joy of Engaging and Edu­cating the Public through Scientific Demonstrations symposium.

My hope is that the outcome of the 2026 conference will also be transformative. Faculty, teachers, and all professionals in science and technology must act wisely to improve the human condition and to protect the planet and all its inhabitants.

Bassam Z. Shakhashiri
UW–Madison Emeritus Professor of Chemistry
William T. Evjue Distinguished Chair for the Wisconsin Idea
ACS Division of Chemical Education Chair, 1981
NSF Assistant Director for Science and Engineering Education, 1984–1990
ACS President, 2012