Today in the classroom:

First year chem is finishing their periodic trends exploration by graphing ionization energies for the first 35 atoms and then relating it to the atomic structure (along with electronegativity and atomic radius).

Second year chem is taking their empirical atomic structure test. It's gonna be tough.

#chemistry #teaching

Today in the classroom:

First year chem is finishing up an investigation on periodic trends, relating atomic radius and electronegativity to the nucleus of the atom. We'll intro electron arrangement (shell filling, etc)

Second year chem is reviewing for their atomic structure test tomorrow. Yesterday's practice test was okay - it brought up some things I'll focus on today to help clear up misconceptions.

#chemistry #teaching

Today in the classroom:

First year chem is doing a wonderful guided inquiry investigation of periodic trends based on an activity by Ann Baxley on ChemEdX [1].

Second year chem is taking a practice test over atomic structure. Given their work quality lately, I'm expecting it to kind of kick their tails. That's why it's practice.

1. https://www.chemedx.org/activity/periodic-trends-guided-inquiry-activity

#chemistry #teaching

Today in the classroom:

First year chem is doing some color-coding and research on properties of the main element families as an intro to the periodic table organization.

Second year chem is doing review and a practice test on the empirical evidence for the atomic structure. They'll take a test this week.

#chemistry #teaching

In the "filesystems and I/O" portion of my Operating Systems course in college today. Brought some floppy disks in to help understanding storage system history and the archaic methods for data organization: tracks, sectors, partitions, etc.

I was surprised at how much the disks were investigated and examined by the students and how much curiosity was expressed. We almost had to suppress questions to get to the course material.

I think this is instructive. I'll try and incorporate some kind of tactile thing this spring when I'm teaching.

#retrocomputing #teaching

Today in the classroom:

First year chem student will either be doing their test corrections on atomic structure or reading an article on the aurora borealis and connecting it to the atomic structure.

Second year chem is still working with electron configurations and describing properties of atoms. We'll read an article on gold & silver and what wavelengths bump valence electrons to higher states, determining reactivity and color.

#chemistry #teaching

During my 10 years teaching 16 to 19 year old we constantly heard we should teach current industry skills, such as Flash actionscript and Dreamweaver.

We preferred to teach more generic skills such as programming principles and HTML. I think we made the right decision.

#teaching #learning #edtech

Today in the classroom:

We're heading to Chicago! We're taking about 80 students to the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry for the day. We'll leave during first hour to grab a train and then return around 6PM. It'll be a long day, but it's an annual tradition that goes really, really well and gives students a chance to do something new.

Students staying back will read about excited electrons in the auroras this week and connect it to atomic structure.

#teaching #chemistry

During my 10 years teaching 16 to 19 year old we constantly heard we should teach current industry skills, such as Flash actionscript and Dreamweaver.

We preferred to teach more generic skills such as programming principles and HTML. I think we made the right decision.

#teaching #learning #edtech

Today in the classroom:

First year chem is taking their atomic structure test. Pretty basic - subatomic particles, isotopes, and ions along with some written questions about the models we have and why we use models in general.

No second year chem class this afternoon because of an assembly at the end of the day.

#chemistry #teaching

Back to school today after a surprise snow day yesterday. I didn't sleep well, even with the long weekend, so I'm going to power through the day today.

First year chem is doing test review over the atomic structure. Test tomorrow.

Second year chem will be analyzing PES diagrams to connect empirical data with the electron structure theory.

#chemisty #teaching

I discovered #Moodle in the spring on 2003. I thought it was a very exciting project and would like to get involved.

I woke up this morning at 5 AM, and my first thought was about Moodle. I then listened the audio from a presentation at #MoodleMootGlobal25. I am about to do some programming relating to Moodle. In my day job my work is to do with Moodle.

I feel very fortunate.
#edtech #teaching #education

I discovered #Moodle in the spring on 2003. I thought it was a very exciting project and would like to get involved.

I woke up this morning at 5 AM, and my first thought was about Moodle. I then listened the audio from a presentation at #MoodleMootGlobal25. I am about to do some programming relating to Moodle. In my day job my work is to do with Moodle.

I feel very fortunate.
#edtech #teaching #education

Today in the classroom:

First year chem is watching NOVA's "Quantum" episode which talks about how the quantum nature of very small particles, like atoms, makes a lot of our technology possible.

Second year chem is going to learn about Coulomb's law and how to describe the attraction of electrons to the nucleus based on distance. This will fold into electron configuration principles and ionization energy. PES diagrams next week.

#chemistry #teaching

I had a couple murals added by my second year chem class this week.

#chemistry #teaching

Grading some flame test labs tonight. I need a stamp that says, "Connect your observations to the Bohr model" because I've written that about 6000 times so far.

#chemistry #teaching

What we're reading:

"Asked to generate intervention plans for struggling students, AI teacher assistants recommended more punitive measures for hypothetical students with Black-coded names and more supportive approaches for students the platforms perceived as white, a new study shows."

We know that educators are bombarded with (VC-funded) hype about AI tools as magical solutions. Please don't take these claims at face value and do your own due diligence. 1/3

https://www.chalkbeat.org/2025/08/06/ai-teacher-assistants-promote-racial-bias-study-finds/

@education @edutooters

#Education#Educators#Edutooters#Teachers#Teaching#EdTech

Today in the classroom:

First year chem is doing flame tests to observe Bohr's model of the atom in action. This is our last lab for the unit. There is only one class I'm worried about.

Second year chem learned about modern electron configuration theory yesterday, connecting the electron's wave properties to the subshell geometries predicted. They said it felt like a chill puzzle to figure out. We'll do more today.

#chemistry #teaching :cupofcoffee: