Editorial pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Share the Wonder Deanna M. Cullen* Science Department, Whitehall High School, Whitehall, Michigan 49461, United States ABSTRACT: This editorial encourages teachers to begin the academic year by remembering what initially excited them about science and to use those personal memories in creating lessons that will excite students about the magic of chemistry and to continue to provide opportunities that foster a sense of wonder. (The abstract graphical image is a still photograph from the video “Nitric Acid Acts Upon a Copper Penny” in Chemistry Comes Alive! Volume 8 published by JCE Software. Reproduced with permission.)
KEYWORDS: Elementary/Middle School Science, High School/Introductory Chemistry, First-Year Undergraduate/General, Curriculum, Demonstrations, Inquiry-Based/Discovery Learning
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them to learn during our time together (yawn)...as they stare dully back at me. Well... I am sad to say that I did this when I was a new teacher. I was just doing what every one of my own past teachers had done. I have to say, it hurt to do it. As a student, I remember being excited for the new school year and then spending the first few days of school moving from room to room, seat to seat, reading and listening to the same drone of “you are expected”, “you will bring this”, and “you will not do this”. Before the end of the first week, I felt discouraged and I did not want to be there anymore. Happily, I broke out of that mold after my first few years as a teacher and I now begin the year by giving a tour of the lab along with safety demonstrations on the first day. We begin our first inquiry activity on the second day. I continue to perform daily demonstrations, including the Ira Remsen story2 and the dehydration of sucrose3 (Figure 1), and then we are off and running. I fit in all of those other mundane (yet important) details before the end of the first week, but I make sure that we get out of our seats and I see some light in the eyes of my students first. If you do not already do this, please try it! The enthusiasm that develops that week energizes me. Once you excite your students about the year, you cannot let them down. Consider your curriculum. Our students learn best when they are excited about the material and they have developed their own desire to find the answers to “How?” and “Why?”. Of course, if you have tried to use inquiry in your classroom, you know that some students will resist. It is easier to listen to lecture, copy down the notes, and regurgitate the answers than it is to actively participate in making connections between the assigned activities and the course content. However, that rote memorization is not the end goal. We need to nurture our students’ desire to figure things out for themselves and take
y nine-year-old son is watching one of the Harry Potter movies as I write. What makes this “good versus evil” talein which love and friendship triumph over darkness unique and popular is the magic and wonder that surrounds the story line. As I listen to my son repeat and practice the spells from the movie, I think of a quote from an article that I stumbled upon recently entitled “Chemistry and the Sense of Wonder” contributed to JCE by Rubin Battino.1 Magicians and alchemists, wizards and warlocks all had their special formulae for controlling nature. We do too, only we call our formulae chemical equations. If anything, our chemical formulae and equations are more powerful than the wizards’ because ours are more realisticthey have been tested! The next time you are asked by a student for the reason for studying an equation, tell him that you are letting him in on some special magic that will not only help him pass exams, but will also help him control nature. I have felt that magic and wonder while watching childhood movies. I have continued to feel it while looking at and pondering nature and chemical reactions. It is that fascination that lured me to the field of science. I know that my older children have inherited that wonder and I can already see that my youngest will as well. As I look forward to the beginning of a new academic year, I try to focus on my love of science and how I can share it with my students and imbue that wonder to them. I am fired up! I have met new friends, learned a lot, found new things to share, and I am excited to work with my students after some summer relaxation and attending three awesome conferences (Molecular Modeling Workshop at Hope College in Michigan; the Annual AP Conference held by the College Board in Florida; and BCCE at Penn State in Pennsylvania). So, the first day of school, I will pass out my syllabus, go over classroom rules, assign seats and texts, introduce myself, and I tell my 10th and 11th grade chemistry students what I expect © 2012 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
Published: July 25, 2012 1089
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previous labs is the classroom activity, “Enjoy a Hot Drink, Thanks to Chemistry”,5 which relates self-heating food containers to the change in enthalpy when dissolving CaCl2. I like that students are asked to think like an engineer and design the container before altering their calculations to fit that container. Use discussion time before, during, and after the activities to clarify concepts and vocabulary. Coach your students to make the connections. Although difficult, it is arguably the most important part of the lesson. I get goose bumps when I see students’ eyes light up during a discussion and they not only summarize the concept perfectly, but they mention an activity that we completed several chapters before that helped to get us to this point. I encourage you to check out “JCE Classroom Activities Virtual Issue: Celebrating 15 Years with the 15 Greatest Hits, 1997−2012”, in which Erica Jacobsen introduces a new virtual issue.6 These activities relate chemistry topics to items that students can relate to. The questions are directly relevant and applicable to a student. They can serve to ignite interest as an introductory activity, sum up a concept, or just provide some magic. As I mentioned earlier, I participated in some professional development this summer, yet the most exciting part of my summer has been my collaboration with Jon Holmes, managing editor of the Journal, on the new partner Web site, Chemical Education Exchange (ChemEd X).7 I am looking forward to Jon’s official roll out of the site in an upcoming issue of the Journal. In the meantime, I encourage you to take a sneak peek now. The ChemEd X Web site is a comprehensive resource. You can find many of the activities and demos that I use to kick off the year.8 One of my goals for the Web site over the next couple of years is to collate the rich content that already exists there into lessons, and to continue compiling more activities and ideas that will add a sense of wonder while supporting every topic that you teach. Once we create an atmosphere of enthusiasm and teamwork, we cannot let our students down. We need to continue providing opportunities for them to practice inquiry learning. I hope that the excitement sparked by a creative first week will motivate teachers and students alike to be their best in the classroom. Smiles are contagious. Wonder is contagious. Enthusiasm is contagious. Share the wonder that brought you to the classroom with your students. Chemistry is an intimidating course, so if we can minimize the mundane and focus on some excitement during that first week, we can ease some student stress and create some interest. Let the “science geek” flame inside of you show. The enthusiasm you pass on to your students will encourage some of them to pursue occupations in the field. Other students may not collect a paycheck because of the chemistry content they may have gained from your course, but their inherited sense of wonder will still help them on their life journey. Share the magic!
Figure 1. Dehydration of sucrose. Still images from the video “Reaction of Sugar with Sulfuric Acid (Formation of Carbon from Carbohydrate)” from Chemistry Comes Alive! Volume 8 published by JCE Software, http://www.jce.divched.org/jcesoft/jcesoftsubscriber/ cca/cca8/main/8/98/80/movie.html (accessed Jul 2012; subscription required). Reproduced with permission.
ownership of their own learning. We need to sell ourselves as coaches rather than just presenters. Strive to increase the number of inquiry activities that you work through in place of the time you have used for lecture. I have found that the classroom activities published in the Journal have enriched my curriculum and created interest about the topic. For instance, I use “A Sticky Situation: Chewing Gum and Solubility”4 well before I teach about solubility in my general chemistry course. I use it early in the course before we cover molecular and ionic compounds. We have not even discussed polarity yet. But, after we complete the activity, students show more interest in the material that follows because the activity has given the vocabulary and related content more purpose. Polarity is a recurring topic throughout chemistry. It deserves to be experienced in multiple ways throughout the year. A “Sticky Situation” is a simple activity that can be revisited several times during the year. I will remind students of it when we cover solubility later in the year and relate it to the activities I have reserved for that chapter. This gives me the opportunity to help students make connections between chapters of material. I also use classroom activities as formative assessment tools. I introduce the topic of calorimetry by having students find the heat of fusion of melting ice, and having them find the change in enthalpy when dissolving salts. One of the activities I use as a formative assessment after those
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AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*E-mail:
[email protected]. Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the author and not necessarily the views of the ACS.
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REFERENCES
(1) Battino, R. Chemistry and the Sense of Wonder. J. Chem. Educ. 1969, 46 (1), 38−39.
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(2) Dalby, D.; Maynard, J.; Moore, J. Better Ira Remsen Demonstration. J. Chem. Educ. 2011, 88 (12), 1687−1691. (3) Dolson, D.; Battino, R.; Letcher, T.; Pegel, K.; Revaprasadu, N. Carbohydrate Dehydration Demonstrations. J. Chem. Educ. 1995, 72 (10), 927−929. (4) Montes-González, I.; Cintron-Maldonado, J.; Pérez-Medina, I.; Montes-Berríos, V.; Román-López, S. A Sticky Situation: Chewing Gum and Solubility. J. Chem. Educ. 2010, 87 (4), 396−397. (5) Pinto, G.; Oliver-Hoyo, M.; Llorens-Molina, J. Enjoy a Hot Drink, Thanks to Chemistry! J. Chem. Educ. 2009, 86 (11), 1280A− 1280B. (6) Jacobsen, E. JCE Classroom Activities Virtual Issue: Celebrating 15 Years with the 15 Greatest Hits, 1997−2012. J. Chem. Educ. 2012, 89 DOI: 10.1021/ed300347g. (7) More information can be found at the Chemical Education Exchange Web site at http://www.chemedx.org/ (accessed Jul 2012). (8) Many of the activities and demonstrations used by the author are listed on the ChemEd X Web site at http://www.chemedx.org/blogentry/first-week-excitement (accessed Jul 2012).
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