Re: any one teaching a similar course; any tips ?

From: Muhammar (muhammar_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 08/14/04 

Date: 14 Aug 2004 13:52:22 -0700

Math is not as critical in general chemistry course. (Which usaly
means a bit of inorg/physical chemistry introduction)

I would not require deep calculus knowledge - I think that using
logaritmus and understanding a simple differencial equation is good
enough for chemistry intro course.

Students that find this level of math difficult will most likely
falter in other chemistry courses also. Take a medium difficulty
approach. You are not responsible for (poor) quality of you students.
Do not lower your standards but you should not try to make it
intentionaly a killer course - and discourage other people from
learning chemistry.

Also, math requirements in chemistry tend to vary great deal depending
on the field - synthetic organic chemists for example do not need
math for most of their work. (I remember a professor who started NMR
clas writing a single equation on the blackboard and than he said
"This is the only equation I will teach you in this class and you will
not need it for exams in any way." He got some cheers from org.
chemistry students :)

If you care about bright students, take the medium difficulty level.
Hand out sylabuses for the next lecture at the end of previous lecture
- people who are interested can read the stuff before the lecture. If
they read it first they will find the lecture material much more
understandable on re-hearing it. (Or at least know what questions to
ask at the end.) The others that do not bother studying the material
beforehand are not those you will need to spare.

Also, always talk about practical examples /applications of the
concepts that you are teaching. Use humor for time to time if you can,
but not too often. Best moment for a lighter tone is when you notice
the attention is wanning. Also, keep the lecture brisk - you can even
make a short break in the middle. Avoid the hours before and especialy
immediately after lunch. Nothing is less conductive to interest than
long droning lecture in overheated classroom when you had lunch.

Cheer up because preparing/giving classes for the first time is huge
amount of work for you, so it preparing the test questions, giving and
scoring the exams.

"Herman Family" <celcaps@frontiernets.net/without_any_s/> wrote in message news:<uKhTc.2802$CI4.622@news02.roc.ny>...
> "Amanda" <amanda992004@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:57d43f8b.0408131548.8f17a37@posting.google.com...
> > Well, I am thrown in to teach the second semester General Chemistry
> > (lecture and lab) coming Fall. I have only one semester experience in
> > classroom teaching and that's only for lab. So I knwo that I have a
> > lot of work in preparing.
> >
> > I am not too concern about the material and plan to prepare very well.
> > But, I am sure that there will be students who are not well prepared -
> > weak in Math. Any tip especially in figuring out very early on which
> > students may not be well prepared from experienced teachers would be
> > appreciated. Giving assessment test is out of the question. Students
> > will be required to provide proof that they have passed the first
> > semester of Gen Chem with a grade of 'C' or better. I guess, I should
> > make a note of those who got "C". Not that I would be assumign that
> > they are not good studnets. Just that I would be more understand when
> > they get upset which usually gets displayed in their tone and
> > behavior.
>
> Generally I do it in the first semester course, but it still might work. If
> you spend the first class or so reviewing all the math that the students
> will need in the course (or at least the basics of algebra), then make sure
> that you continue to tie the material to the math each period, it should
> work out ok. I like to use the tie in as a backup for the chemistry where
> it is appropriate.
>
> I just assume that all the students are weak in mathematics. It isn't a bad
> assumption in some places, and correcting the problem gives a good
> foundation.
>
> Michael

Relevant Pages

  • Re: SR and GR without math
    ... No other math needs to ... that doesn't diminish chemistry and its ... Antarctica) that are doing frontier physics. ... Though note that what most biologists do is exactly what astronomers ...
    (sci.physics.relativity)
  • Re: Yet another undergrad question
    ... Chem Major #5 wrote: ... Math is a good subject for me - I finished my second ... Lab chemistry is a career dead end, ...
    (sci.chem)
  • Re: Wizard elementary school
    ... basic math that takes a whole ten minutes. ... If that's possible for reading and math, ... why bother teaching Potions etc. the hard way? ... Your comparison with chemistry is quite accurate I suppose, ...
    (alt.fan.harry-potter)
  • Re: religion and the brain
    ... >> an advanced degree in math to really get a grasp on. ... > importance for modern analytical chemistry) show QM ... of an unambiguous piece of empirical evidence with explanatory model to ... Those are explanatory devices and theoretical future applications. ...
    (sci.cognitive)
  • Re: Why do "teachers" needs "schools", why do "professors" need "universities", anyway? (was Re: sui
    ... Because there's a ready-made group of students there. ... you teach a lecture course in mathematics or history. ... The main problem with the teaching of math and history is that it's taught ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)