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!