Field Study in Student Distractions

Just one more round.  Just one more episode.  These are the things that lure our student's during their at home study times.  Part of instructor's role in the courses with these students is to lure them instead into the subject matter.  This can be done, one assignment at a time.  Our competition in this, are all the distractions student's encounter while they are on the computer before they get to these said assignments.
Distractions in today's day are everywhere.  Who among us can live without our cell phone for just one day?  I've done it from necessity of an event requiring it to be "checked-in."  Usually it takes two days of it being gone, to unconsciously stop looking for it at any given free moment. 

So they seem to be here to stay.  How can we work with these given distractions? Assignments can be placed online with regular due dates and the first assignments in the new concept are as easy as opening their book and looking at the chart on page 123.  Once the book is opened, the chances of reading the material before the class just went up substantially.  Instead of seeing this technology as a block, how can we work with it and alongside all these distractions.   How tough are student distractions anyway?

Here a field study on this begins. Background to this: my sweet little relative started our household on this new online game.  Super simple.  Super addictive.  While I am playing with the humor of 10 and up's, my character games have the clever names of "It's elemental", "Sucrose" and "Formic."   While trying to reach out to this next generation and find out what daily habits and patterns they have, I am too sucked in and soon enough my clever character's are gobbled up by "Jumbo" and "Mars-Bro."  It is then so easy to start a new round.  Just one more round.

Upon sharing this addiction with my students, half the class expressed with a groan, they knew this game too.  The distraction's students have shared that have the biggest pull on them are in no particular order: Netflix Television Series, Phone App Games and Social Media Sites.  Technology has come to aid us and simultaneously seems to give us a nice dose of distractions as well.

Should we check-in the smart devices at the door or instead use them as an addition to our classrooms?  How can we turn the classroom into an active learning experience where students are looking for solutions to current world problems?  It is a great feeling in class to be curious about a question a discussion brought up and be able to "Ask Siri" what the answer to it is. 

Next up: addictive Chemistry games that bring the fun of learning those polyatomic names to the game front!  Gobble the polyatomic naming fun!

Instilling a Love of Learning - One Chemistry Class at a Time

Infusing the Love of Learning and the Love of Chemistry

One early morning to my students,  these words recently came out of my mouth, "I like Chemistry."  A student in my class could have commented in their head with a reply to this, "Duh, like you are teaching this class."  Luckily without any comments from them though, the attention of the class was caught with anticipation of where this was going. 

"I like Chemistry" I said again.  With a short piece on the history of my personal discovery of liking chemistry that goes back to junior high days and a seeing a friend learn her elements using her own mnemonics, to my interest grow through the years, the students rested back into their seats, until this comment hit them, "But, THAT is not why I am here." 

That next phrase would empower them to recognize that there was a greater good of why they were here today.  Their paths are of course of utmost importance.  On average students at this college are 21 years old.  They are here to gain a solid start to college, at a community college price (or even better running start price) and then obtain a degree down the road that will shine well on their resume as they seek out the start of their careers.  Yes the grades are important for the transfer programs.   But what else is at stake here?  What will they remember from this experience and this class overall 10 years down the road?  Is it what is put in front of them or is it what they discover on their own?

"My mission here is to instill a life-long love of learning", I expressed to the now attentive class.

Chemistry takes discipline to dig into the material. Regular quite study sessions to read and "do" the problems on ones own.  Whether students paths includes chemistry or not, this discipline once put into this class to master the subject, can similarily put into other disciplines.  What can motivate our students to putting in the discipline to learn the material for reasons beyond grades?

As ususal this is time of the quarter where students are shifting into the presentation portion of the class.  What aspects of Chemistry interest them most?  They have regular activity sessions to feed off of each other all quarter.  Now what are they going to share with the class in formal presentation mode?

Students interests range from:  the positive chemicals released from a long outdoor jog, to the latest of green technology, to consumer goods like the chemicals in cosmetics to what is happening in the environment and the Chemistry behind it. 

The Molecule responsible for Runner's High - Similar to what is released from THC

They shine as they shift from what 'Chemistry has been presented to them throughout the quarter' to what 'Chemistry related topics they have personal interest in them'.  The spark is in their eyes.  What fuels them, and what fuels the direction of society overlapping together in a way that they can feel part of this subject.

A class period or two after this impromptu message, a student came up to me after the class session.  With a spark in his eyes, he described how he personally related to Chemistry through the hobbies he is doing.  The ranged from using alternative fuels in the gasoline tank to his excitement of preparing for his upcoming presentation.  Student's like this gain doubly when they can personally relate to the subject and their passions can fuel a life long love of learning for all things Chemistry and beyond.

Photo Credit for Anandamide: http://cen.acs.org/articles/93/web/2015/10/Exploring-Molecular-Basis-Runners-High.html

Nature Reset Thanks to the Power of Entropy

The world as we know it is in a constant state of increasing disorder.  The natural disorder of a system can be defined scientifically as entropy.  Energy is put into organizing a room and then it happens again, disorder.  Legos are sorted and like magic, they are all mixed up together again.  Who doesn't experience entropy?  Ruff Ruff in the picture here is a product of just letting entropy happen.

Gardens are kept pristine, vibrant lawns, sharp edges, colorful flowers and then give it a month or a year without work.  Again disorder.  Entropy at its finest.  Civilization as a whole is designed to keep entropy at bay.  Leaves are kept off the ground, dirt is raked to give a nice texture and weeds are removed.  This all looks good and keeps one content to know a days work has been done, but is it enough to reset the mind?  Well, with the body exhausted the mind will rest at the point, but is there a faster way to reset the mind and thus to reset ones mood.

Phrases like, "I just need to re-center myself" and "I am out of my element" are common phrases we hear today.  Research findings in the news is saying that time in nature is enough to alter your mood and avoid a whole bunch of medical costs down the road.  So what is it about being out in nature for short doses that one is able to reset the mind without going to all the trouble of exhausting the body first?

How does nature nurture so well!

Bridle State Park Trail compliments of Stephanie Locke, Girl Scout Leader

How does it do it?  My personal studies on this subject include comparing 30 minutes of walking through a groomed neighborhood followed by walking through Bridle Trails Nature Park.  It wasn't until 10 minutes of being in the nature park that overall well being feeling happened again like so many other similar short doses of time out there.  So I looked around to see what was so different from a neighborhood walk.  There was plants in both, bird sounds in both, fresh air in both, not too many loud noises that day, so what was it?

It was the increased entropy of the forest.  Other than the trail, disorder was all over the place!  Trees had fallen and laid rotten right where they lay.  Random plants were growing every which way.  Trees were looming here and there and sometimes in between other trees.  There was a reuniting with the natural course of the world - a reuniting with entropy.  Instead of a focused gaze to see all the divisions in society, a soft gaze results since there is repetition in this forest disorder and randomness.  The soft gaze then leads to a meditative state.  A meditative state for ones mind leads to relaxation.

Short boosts seem to be the trick.  Just a short 30 minute trail in between a daily transition and ones pace has slowed down, hormone levels have shifted (decreasing that cortisol level again - see previous article) and PMA (positive mental attitude) is back!  

The biochemistry of career women vs stay-at-home women.

Who likes choices, why can't we pick both?

After a decade of staying at home as the mom, I slowly inched back into the career world by teaching classes.  And loved it - although it was a constant juggling act with finding child care.  Of course the classes that were available were evening classes, and then it became a juggling act of an evening class followed by a first of the morning class.  To move ahead there was only one choice - take the classes offered, the pieces will fall into place.  Although to what cost?  Lining up babysitters to assuming a role that I need to be to class on time and not miss a day of work - a whole class of learning hinged on it.  There is no sick-time in adjunct teaching.  It was often a close exchange time and the cortisol was just getting started.

This 2014 video by Dr. Libby Weaver came out when I was teaching my first chemistry class: organic and biochemistry.  As I was vamping up to learn the subject from a 15 year break of being a chemistry student myself, I had to put in extra effort to be ready to talk about it in front of a room of students.  From the previous year I had taught a few math classes and learned that I loved being in the "teaching to college student role", but whew,  math was easy.  This organic chemistry subject had been long forgotten and I had never even taken biochemistry in college.  While I was learning the subject and building the class I still had a preschooler at home in a non-tv household.  As Dr. Libby explains, women are given extra duties and we must also be perfect in our role on top of that.  There was enough studies out to say less screen time for younger kids - another sacrifice added!  Cortisol, drip, drip.   It was a big juggling act that quarter!  Even though I was just learning the biochemistry for the first time, I was absolutely fascinated by it.  Our bodies are just that miraculous!  Every moment there is a series of reactions ready to take place, all at a drop of an ATP molecule!

Dr. Libby, a biochemist herself, explains how when we take on all these extra duties on top of our normal "cavewomen" duties we are adding cortisol (stress) which affects our menstrual cycle's progesterone/estrogen balance and by the end of our cycle with things out of whack, everyone around us pays too.

In yet, a career needed to be built.  A decade of stay-at-home time meant I had some catching up to do.  That year I continued to teach the organic/biochemistry class along with the general chemistry class.  The following 2 years I would also pick-up an environmental chemistry class, an intro to chemistry for majors class, another environmental science class and a first quarter majors Chemistry class.  All in all that was building 5 different science classes in just over 2 years!

Here is the difference about private colleges and public colleges.  In private colleges the online portion of the class comes all made and it is a matter of showing up and delivering the material.  In public colleges, one is given a blank online classroom, called "Canvas" and the opportunity to build it from scratch....every time a new class is taught.

That growing an online component to class is something I have come to really enjoy.  Students in the first year gave me feedback to what works best to learning material.  It came down to a format that is similar to learning a new language, such as the Pimsleur program  The online component once built gives ample exposure opportunities to students so that once they are truly "assessed" on the material during an in-class 30% of the points in the class grade, they have become quite familiar with the material.

What it has taken to revive up this career, has cost most of my past two years taking vacation time to learn the next classes content.  A dedication that comes from assuming career women duties while still keeping the cave women duties in tact.  A sacrifice: true.  Does it need to be for the future generations?  No, no.  My moment on the soap box for women's rights is below...

We need a better child care system in place.  In Sweden they give women one year of stay at home time once they have a child, but then everyone must return to work afterword's.  Because "every women" must return to work, there is not a big dilemma of whether it makes financial sense for a women to return or wait it out until the kids are in school.  The mental satisfaction of returning back to work has been rewarding enough.  I just hope future generations do not have to feel the sacrifice of returning after too long of a break and knowing that there are only spotty and difficult childcare options available!  Cortisol you are a beautiful molecule, but so is progesterone!   But while we are discussing the beauty of these, oxytocin you are the winner, but ouch, that looks painful as a tattoo!

*As a final note: The Boys and Girls club does provide some great before and after school programs to many schools, our school just does not happen to be one of them.  The school does have after and before school programs.  We have been 2 years on the waitlist so far.  So there are options out there, they are spotty enough that it is a matter of increasing program width rather than creating new ones.

Chemistry - Let it Change the Smell of your Clothes

Whether you are a student of chemistry or a student of life, a deeper knowledge of chemistry has something to offer you.   Central to all the sciences, chemistry has a role in our progress of mankind while we mitigate to a changing climate.  This first look is into a typical consumer goods.

As citizens of our modern society, we are constantly surrounded by natural and man-made chemicals.  What is in your shampoo bottle?  Would you be somewhat surprised that many popular formulas have ingredients that can also be found in a car wash formula, namely Sodium Lauryl Sulfate?   A decade ago, there was no "SLS free" shown on bottles that did not contain this substance.  Now they do.  Why?  Because enough of us became aware of potential harm with hormone imbalances and started selecting formulas that did not contain this chemical. Next thing the name brand corps caught on and made a version of their product that we could all relax around. 

It did not stop there.  Hand Sanitizers had their moment in the spotlight, BPA, phthalates and next to be on the list: dryer sheets!   The difference between the ingredient list on Meyer's Clean Day Dryer sheets and Bounce Sheets are shown below.

Meyer's Clean Day Dryer Sheets:  Di-(Palm Carboxyethyl) Hydroxyethyl Methlammonium Methyl Sulfate, Palm Fatty Acid, Lemon, Fir and Lemon Grass oil and fragrances

Bounce Sheets:  Dipalmethyl Hydroxyethylammoinum Methosulfate, Fatty Acid, Polyester Substrate, Clay and fragrance

Okay, a quick look at those comparisons shows the two products have pretty much the same ingredients, except for the oil and fragrance blends.  Looking at what came up on the news earlier this month from work done at UW on these sheets, the chemicals that are put into these fragrances can be quite frightening!  Dr. Anne Steineman's team found that the artificial fragrances contain carcinogens.  This is not only harmful to the users of these ingredients, but also to the environment as they are volatile and emitted through the dryer vent.

How can a grasp on chemistry help you with this new dryer sheet dilemma you now have in your laundry room?  Having comfort in the complexity in the names above to see that the major ingredients are all the same and the only differences lie in the fragrances.  Solution?  For the most part, just awareness!  Keep your favorite brand, do a further investigation on the fragrances or find a fragrance free version. 

Above all, don't feel guilty if you have been using a product that is now looking like it is a carcinogen.   Use that knowledge to make a few changes and your body will change right along with you.  Look for formulas that contain essential oils. The nice thing about the oils is they have been used for the eons and the vibrational energy they offered to the plants for protection, can now offer you that same level of vibration while giving your clothes a nice smell as well.  The Meyer brand still contains an undeclared "fragrance" blend, but it comes after a number of natural oil blends.  Oh my!   If we all just had time to air out the laundry like our great-grandma Mamacito did it would be so much more simpler...we don't.  Read your ingredient labels!