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My role as instructor
Learning is predominantly a traversing of Bloom's taxonomy within a given field or discipline. Implicit within the taxonomy is the improvement of critical thinking skills, allowing the student to develop the skills necessary to find connections between concepts and synthesize new ideas. Also integrated into the taxonomy, although not explicitly stated, is the development of passion and interest in the field of study, since a student cannot engage in the upper portions of the taxonomy – analyzing, evaluating, creating - if he/she is apathetic towards the subject. In my seven years of teaching undergraduate Chemistry courses, I have observed that students learn best when they are guided outside of their comfort zone and are encouraged to look at information with a different perspective. Novel teaching tools, interactive lecturing methods and unanticipated learning objects make up the framework I apply to increase my effectiveness as an instructor.
They say the grass is greener...
It's been a while since I've made some cupcakes, so with graduation approaching I got inspired.
A simple calculator to explore solvent extraction. At the moment, this calculator has no instructions or activity associated with it.
Mapping the Midwest ACS Meeting
Rather than have a boring introduction about me, I thought it would be better to have a boring introduction about what I like to do. Fiddling with Mathematica is my latest hobby, and I’m always looking for different things to do with the software.
As of this writing (October, 2012), I just returned from the Midwest Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society. I took 8 students from Chicago to Nebraska and we spent a few days talking about and learning about Chemistry. The meeting was fun, but the 8-9 hour van ride was a bit tedious. When I returned home, I needed something to get my mind working again (and also avoid the ever growing pile of grading that’s sitting on my desk.)
Enter Mathematica.