Category Archives: Science

Stoichiometry Test Redux

Yesterday in one of my classes, I spent a few minutes talking about the results of the test I described in this post. The two kids who stayed after school for three hours both scored in the 90s on the … Continue reading

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A Modicum of Effort

The topic I just finished teaching (moles & stoichiometry) has given me a little more insight into the minds of high school sophomores. +4-4

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Science Fairs

From 2004-06 I taught at Peabody Veterans Memorial High School in Peabody, MA, a school that participates in the annual Massachusetts State Science Fair. I was the coordinator for the school’s fair in March 2006. I also participated as a … Continue reading

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Teaching Experimental Design

Anyone who has listened to me rant about teaching for any amount of time at all has probably heard my rant about the way lab experiments are done in high schools. +3-1

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Diet Coke/Mentos Final Exam

This is about a week old, but I hadn’t talked about it here yet. One of the advantages of being the only teacher for a course that has no curriculum is that I can do just about anything as long … Continue reading

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Watching the Light Bulbs Turn On

Like many teachers, I live for those moments when I can watch a light bulb go on in one of my students’ heads. When it happens, even once, it can make my entire day. My organic chemistry class has been … Continue reading

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Smarter Kids Are Slower

I gave my honors chemistry 2 students a lab practicum for their mid-term exam yesterday. I assigned them in groups of three and gave them two problems to solve and write up (in a format similar to the one I … Continue reading

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Solving “Problem Solving” Problems

This should come as no surprise to anyone, but most high school kids have never been taught any general-purpose techniques for problem-solving. Those of you who have been reading my journal might recall that I’ve been making an effort to … Continue reading

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Turning Up the Speed on the Treadmill

When I was at MIT, I used the metaphor of a treadmill to describe the progression of a semester. Someone else was controlling the speed of the treadmill. Each week, the person would turn the speed up a little faster. … Continue reading

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“Mr. Bigler, What Are We Going to Learn Today?”

This is how my day started. Not with the more typical student question of “are we going to do anything,” but with a question that carried with it the tacit assumption that of course we would be learning something, and … Continue reading

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