And here starts another semester....

So this week saw the start of what I hope is my final semester for my undergradute degrees.
For chemistry we have been asked to complete a learning log, here I am restarting to use my long-abanded blog.

As well as the normal introduction to chemistry stuff, we started looking at putting chemistry inpersective. Teaching chemistry is (or should be) more than just teaching concepts, which to many students are unrelated to the real world. They need a purpose and an application. Why are students learning this? Where can they apply it?

I find Shulman's seven knowledge domains:
(content, pedagogical, school, students, curriculum, PCK, and education ends)
a useful check to frame my thinking about education and my place in it. During last semester I found that I focused on different aspects of this knowledge in isolation. Generally this isolation was in different units. Ie in curriculum studies I was very focused on educational ends and school knowledge, where as in science I was very focused on content and PCK.
This semester I aim to try and move my thinking towards all of these concepts in all units. (Or in every topic I teach).
As I mentioned in class I find this a useful checklist to make sure I am thinking about all of them, and not just primarily focusing on one type.

We also talked about the assignments in class. I'm not sure how everyone else feels about the assignments. I'm still uncertain about my chemistry portfolio. In many ways I know this is simply because it seems to be very opposite how I have been taught to complete portfolios. It will take some time for me to process this and rewire how I think about them.
This would be very similar I guess to how students may react to different tasks we set them. It is likely that we will expect students to complete tasks in ways that defy all the rules they have been taught before. It will take students some time to work this through and be comfortable with what you are asking, the same way it is taking me some time to be comfortable with a new way of completing portfolios.

[Deb, if your reading this, can we please decide on the assessment critera BEFORE we complete them, not after. I'm not sure what you are planning to do with this. But one year we decided the critera after, and in my view this was unfair. It does not provide all students with the opportunity to have successfully completed the task. ]

Like Meredith I found talking about what we enjoyed, dislike, remembered and couldn't remember interesting. I was aware of the difference between likes in chemistry just due to being one of the few in my chem major who enjoyed instrumental chemistry.
It really opened my eyes, looking at how most of us remembered specific moments or activities instead of the content we were taught. I'm not sure this is reflective that they didn't learn anything, but that things that stick in their minds are times when something unusual happens or they manipulate their own learning. This should be helpful when thinking about teaching chemistry. If this is what students remember there must be ways to utalise this to help them to remember concepts and knowledge. I'm not really sure yet how, but it is something I will think more about. I guess the key warning would not to let big and flashy dominate actual learning.

What may have been even more interesting would have been the discussion about what was irrelevant to learning chemistry. When we were all talking about this in small groups I heard a couple of people mention that they found history irrelvant to learning chemistry. (It may have also been mentioned in the whole group discussion). This is so different to me, since I find the history of chemistry fascinating. When learning the periodic table and elements in year 12 I spent alot of time looking at the discovery of the element, how, where, by who; and where the name and symbol came from. I found this useful because it was easier to remember symbols when I understood how they came about. But for other people it seems this was just boring.
(It may also be why I have read the original works of Darwin and Einstin even if I don't study that branch of science.)
This would have been interesting to see how people feel that different things are important. And in some ways a reminder to us that alot of what we find unimportant may be linked to our learning styles. I learn very much by reading, which might explain why I love reading about the history side.

we looked also at the faces of chemistry, which I think links back into what I have already discussed. Many students might find the magical and craft face more interesting because of that real world link and exciting moments they bring, which stands out from the usual chalk and talk.

We started working on a unit of work in small groups. This task feels really productive. (Hands on!). Our group is looking at nanotechnology. I'm excited about designing a unit around nanotechnology. Since it is a newer addition to the VCE curriculum many teachers I have spoken to are not strong in their knowledge about that area. Most classes I have seen cover this by simply using this as a research project for students. (Covers the topic and the technology requirement). Its disappointing that it is not covered more, because it can really capture students attention.
Having physics in my background may help my fascination with the topic. :)
It will be interesting how we develope it over the next few weeks, and I look forward to seeing what other groups put together.

Resources mentioned in class:
The Science of Harry Potter

Other resources:
The cartoon guide to chemistry - Larry Gonick

Other subject resources:
The Wizard of Quarks (A fantasy of particle physics) - Robert Gilmore
Once upon a universe - not-so-Grimm tales of Cosmology - Robert Gilmore
Alice in Quantumland (An allegory of Quantum Physics) - Robert Gilmore
Scrooge's Cryptic Carol (Visions of Energy, time and quantum nature) - Robert Gilmore

(These last four books are rewritten classic stories to explain different physics concepts. I enjoy them and they may help students who need to approach science from a different angle.)