A Major Ahaaaaaaa......

WHAT AM I DOING TO HELP KIDS ACHIEVE?

HOW DO I KNOW WHEN THEY ARE THERE?

WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE?

     I had my class video taped.  I am working with some people at Miami and they are doing a study on how instructors teach bonding.  I thought it would be a really great lab.  Students would look at samples of substances that are paramagnetic and diamagnetic and determine the orbital diagrams and confirm Hund's rule.  It was published in J.Chem. Ed.  To make a long story short...it was a disaster.  Way too many concepts.  Magnetism, orbital notation, ions and bonding.  I have already changed the lab.  But there was something else far more interesting.....

     I watched the film.  At one point, I had half of the students in the mini lab (about 5 boys and 5 girls) and half of the class in the room doing research.  After one group got there data, they were going to switch.  The camera person stayed in the mini lab as I went to the classroom to check on the kids.  What I saw on the film stopped me in my tracks....

     Everyone was supposed to get take turns getting data.  On the film it showed all of the boys getting the data and the girls standing back watching and recording data.  The girls were not actively getting the data, just letting the boys do it.  As a guy who has two girls, I was horrified.  I started watching more.  As I was walking around, I counted the number of boys and girls I talked to and it was about the same.  No matter how hard I try to treat everyone the same, it was weird to see such an obvious disparity.  From now on, roles are going to be assigned...hopefully  I will create an environment in which everyone will have the same opportunities....