This presentation is a follow-up of an earlier presentation
LEARNING CHEMISTRY CLOSE TO HOME
WITH DISTANCE LEARNING
Which is closer, Distance Learning or Traditional classes. As my title implies
distance learning is the answer. I will illustrate that with this image…
The red line is the perimeter of Mesa Community College. The
chemistry labs are located in the yellow square. No students live on
campus so chemistry labs are not close to anyone.
As we zoom out we see how far chemistry is from students.
Our campus focuses on students in a 180 square mile area.
When you think how far students go to do a lab. A traditional lab
class should be the one called distance learning.
Some students have traveled a few hundred miles to
274take
Miles
chemistry classes. One such student came a small
town near the New Mexico border.
That student’s name is Lonnie. He needed an Organic Chemistry class to get into dentistry school. He
gave up a $60,000 a year job and had to rent an apartment in Mesa while taking the class. His wife was
6 months pregnant, who stayed at home. Lonnie drove back and forth each weekend. He took my
Distance Ed chemistry class & lab electives, which he could anywhere; but he had to travel to our
college to take the organic class.
When students make choices they consider the convenience of Distance Ed classes versus
the extra travel time and often extra expense of traditional classes.
A choice is also made based on their schedule. This often translates to
graduating on schedule or postponing graduation.
For example, Jeff is a fireman in a master’s program that required he take a chemistry class. His
fireman schedule couldn’t adapt to to the rigidity of a traditional class.
He was so appreciative that I had distance ed version of a
chemistry class that satisfied that requirement.
Having a similar unconventional
schedule was Ken who is a bomb
squad technician for Phoenix. This
distance chemistry ed class allowed
him to proceed with his educational
goals.
This has many advantages. First is convenience. For many that's
the difference between going to school or not.
Crystal worked for a company who sent her on week long
business trips. The flexibility of my distance ed classes
allowed her to do the labs at home when she got into town.
Thank you so much for offering an online lab
science class! I couldn't graduate on time without
it. - Ryan Evjen
Ryan, here, was working on a summer
research project in Houston The portable
chemistry lab allowed him to take his class
with him. This is what he said…
Megan often took her chemistry kit with her when she worked
evenings at a animal hospital. When things got slow she could
work on her labs. She also learned about the quality of the
water and air at the clinic.
Yvonne
This is Yvonne, a single mom who juggled classes at Arizona State
University and Mesa Community College. She said the distance ed
class was perfect for her hectic schedule. She has five children.
I feel especially proud of helping Kathy. She was also a
single mother and undergoing cancer treatments. She
couldn’t attend the normal schedule of a traditional class.
I got to see her graduate last May.
After the semester is under way, students may also have to make the choice of staying in class
or dropping out. A common reason was they were moving. My portable chemistry kit combined
with self paced learning allowed them to stay in the class.
Sam and his wife Melissa had to move to Michigan
about half way through the semester. Almost
immediately after arriving in Michigan they continued
sending in the lab reports and photographs.
Bonnie’s husband returned from Iraq and got stationed in Texas. She
was able to take her kit with her to Texas to finish the class.
Teri was another student who moved, yet stayed in class.
As was Scott.
Alyson had to return to her school in Illinois sooner than expected.
She picked up her kit early and was able to get the labs done in time.
An important difference between distance ed and traditional chemistry labs is relevance.
The labs for the distance ed class relates to the family at home. A traditional lab means
you are doing it for others elsewhere. especially regarding health issues.
This is Heath who was anxious to do the lab that uses a portable air pump to collect air
samples. His son Hunter, here, was often hospitalized with severe allergy reactions to
pollens and molds in the air. The awards belong to his son whose future in sports
depends on the quality of air he breathes.
One of the labs checks the quality of water in the home. One test in the lab is for
nitrate and nitrites. Claudia found out her water was right on the border of
having unhealthy levels of nitrate and nitrites. I asked if she had any babies at
home because they are particularly vulnerable to nitrates. She said, no, but her
neighbor had a young baby. I told her to test her neighbor’s water.
Speaking of relevancy, how important is knowing the ozone level that your
children are breathing? Ginger is showing the ozone detection strips she
will use at home.
Cale, a junior high teacher, is checking
out the efficiency of filter materials with
his daughter’s help.
Tonya has two daughters at home that she’s concerned about.
My students always saw the
relevancy of the experiments
because the results gave
them knowledge that impacted
themselves and their children.
No experiment in a traditional
chemistry lab has that level of
relevancy.
As you noticed there are different participants in distance ed versus traditional
classes. Distance Ed labs can involve family and friends. For a traditional
lab, they do it alone or with a lab partner, usually someone they don’t know.
I first want to point out that the chemicals in the kit are very safe. On the zero
to 4 national fire protection association scale for health, nothing is over 1,
which is the same as chalk.
This is Andrea, she lives in California and often would have her younger
brother help her.
Tanya has two boys and a neighbor who is a chemist who also has two boys.
Normally, it’s the chemist next door that plays Mr. Wizard with the boys. But
the semester she did the lab, she was the wizard.
Yvonne said that normally when she did school work, she had to tell her five
children to leave her alone. But when she did these labs, she was happy that
she could involve them.
For example, two of her kids are digging a hole to find a soil sample
Another one has cup ready to measure the soil
sample.
And she gets to stir the sample to extract the soil nutrients.
In another experiment that utilizes a spectroscope, all of her kids got to learn how to tell the
difference between the spectrums of energy efficient lights and energy wasteful lights.
It’s not just the kids that get involved.
Lonnie involved his mother’s friend, Noreen, in preparing borax crosslinked
polyvinyl alcohol. Also known as slime.
The lady in the middle is a middle school teacher who was a mutual friend of the two guys.
The guys were taking my distance ed chemistry class but she did the labs with them so she
could learn what demonstrations she could use in her classes.
Another important consequence of having chemistry kits at home has to do with science literacy.
It derives from access. With the kit at home students have full access to these tools. In a
traditional classes, it is very limited. In addition, students doing labs at home see the knowledge
applied. In a traditional class, even hands-on activities seem theoretical to them.
We all probably recall the days that having a computer at home seemed far fetched with limited usefulness
for individuals. But when computers got into the homes, we found that computer literacy soared and there
was much more used than anyone realized. In a similar manner, if we get the tools of science in the home,
science literacy will soar and we will promote critical thinking and independent investigation.
Lonnie was about to buy a home water purification system and luckily just
finished a lab that tested different filters. He said he was more than ready to
discuss the issues with the vendors who were calling him.
In a related story, Alyson
was approached by a door
to door purified water
salesman. He told her that
water in her area was bad,
which she already knew
because she tested it. He
said that his company
would do a free analysis of
her water…
Instead of giving him her water, she gave him a sample of that company’s own water. You see,
her neighbor had regular deliveries of that water and had given Alyson a jug of it. The salesman
took the water and returned the next day telling her how bad her water was. She revealed that
the water she gave him was the same water that he was selling.
I was happy to hear that Thomas, the young brother of my student,
Marie, had set his sight on becoming a chemist because of the
positive experience he had helping her.
This is Juli. This is what she said about the class.
I wanted to personally thank you for this class, I am 41 yrs old
and have always hated and disliked chemistry. You have
provided me the opportunity to discover the benefits and actual
application in my day to day life regarding chemistry.-Juli
Rachel involved her son with the
experiments. Her son was having some
trouble understanding the filter
experiment so Rachel wadded up some
screen material and showed her son
how it could allow water though while
blocking pebbles, thus demonstrating
how a mechanical filter worked.
Cale had done the experiment with sodium polyacrylate which
absorbs 300 times its own weight in water. In the experiment it was
created as a soil substitute.
However, he told me that he also
used the saturated crystals to
provide water for crickets that he fed
to his collared lizard. The crickets
would often drown in liquid water, but
the sodium polyacrylate provided the
crickets water without the hazard of
drowning.
Learning Chemistry Close to Home with Distance Learning
has many benefits.
First of all, a portable chemistry lab truly brings chemistry home.
Using green chemistry practices, safe chemicals and experiments can
be devised and ones relevant to their everyday life can be designed.
Used cooking oil (biodiesel)
Paper & Plastic
Recycling may be more than simply tossing items in a recycle bin.
With a little chemistry students can recycle their own items
For example, I am teaching a Community Ed class on how to make biodiesel
from used cooking oil. Even organic synthesis can be done at home.
I love when students come by to pick up the kit. I feel science education is
being exported to where it will do the most good.
Science will be connected to thei vehicles they drive. For example, I have
them check the exhaust of their vehicle.
I’m please to see my college students getting their kids involved.
It’s great to see smiles on their faces as they send me digital images of
themselves doing the labs.
Sometimes the look is whimsical and amused.
I love it when the chemistry is done outdoors.
It’s great to see them do analysis of the water, air, and soil.
Again, it’s great to see students smile…
Or not smile… Some take it seriously, which is good, too.
It’s great to see them take science on the road.
…or to the side of the road. These two students joined forces to do their labs. They met at
different locations, which was possible with the portable kit.
I mostly saw students becoming more confident as they realized they could do
chemistry on their own in their own space.
This is a kind of confidence not achieved with traditional labs or virtual labs.
To see details about the course, visit my website at www.chemistryland.com
Find the course called CHM-107 and check out the lab and lecture portions of the class.