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Author Archives: Mr. Bigler
Converting Labs to Inquiry Format
The College Board is in the process of rewriting the curriculum for science courses to make them more inquiry-based. This has prompted me to revisit my process for converting conventional “cookbook” labs to inquiry format. Note: since writing this post, I … Continue reading
Helping Teenagers to Be Nice
One of the legacies from my mom is that I try to be unfailingly positive with my students, and I encourage and expect the same from them. I have a set of classroom signs that I post all around the … Continue reading
The AP Chemistry Test is Getting Easier…
There seems to be a consensus among AP Chemistry teachers that the test has gotten significantly easier than it was a decade or more ago. However, if we take a score of 5 to mean the equivalent of an A … Continue reading
To Memorize or Not To Memorize
Memorizing something essentially means changing it from something you need to think about into something you can do quickly without thinking. Sometimes this is desirable, sometimes not. +40
A Case for Plotting Graphs By Hand
One of the labs I do with my Chemistry I class is to measure the temperature and volume of a gas under two sets of conditions, and, based on Charles’s Law, extrapolate the graph to estimate the temperature of absolute zero. … Continue reading
Failing Students in Middle School So They Can Be Successful
On Monday, I was talking with one of the middle school teachers in the city where I teach. I happened to mention one of my pet peeves—the fact that kids in middle school appear to get promoted to the next … Continue reading
Teaching Dimensional Analysis
If I remember my adolescent psychology correctly, Jean Piaget claimed that the average child develops abstract (“formal operational”) thinking around age 16—exactly the age most high school students take their first chemistry course. Since 2003-04 (the year that Massachusetts’ MCAS … Continue reading
The Case for Retakes
On the AP-Chem listserv, Adrian Dingle remarked: “I prefer pilots that ‘pass’ the test EVERY time they attempt to land an aircraft, not the second time they try.” Personally, I’d rather fly with a pilot who has had problems and … Continue reading
Peel & Eat Kleenex Follow-Up
Almost four years ago, I posted the original Peel & Eat Kleenex: I Double Dog Dare You! story. A couple of weeks ago, I told the story to my department chair. Being a scientist, she decided that she needed to … Continue reading
Mnemonics As a Substitute For Understanding
There’s an insidious misconception that the ability to reliably get the right answer to a question must be evidence that the student thoroughly understands the topic. +4-4