General+Chemistry

**Angela's Habits of Mind**
Quarter 3: March 21, 2012

__Striving for accuracy and precision__: Do you turn in sloppy or incomplete work? Are you more anxious to get rid of the assignment than to check it for accuracy and precision? //A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it is committing another mistake//, Confucius.

Oftentimes when we work straight from the unit packet, it's extremely tempting not to bend down into a backpack to pull out more paper or a notebook to work in. When I'm right there in the immediate moment, it seems so much more practical not to go through all that work to get a clean sheet of paper out and to just write directly in the packet. After all, it's right there and there is some white space, why shouldn't I just write small and fit everything in? It seemed to work alright at first. I didn't have to bend down. I didn't have to get more paper. I did, however, have to squeeze my writing and squint to make sure I could read the tiny print I had put in. My work wasn't laid out carefully so it was hard to tell what sort of formulas I was using. Many times, I'd even bypass writing the formula because it just seemed faster to just do the calculations.

Well... clearly, I wasn't really displaying a very smart habit of mind. By the time it came to study for a test, I quickly realized that my method wasn't quite working. I couldn't tell where I was getting my numbers from. I couldn't tell where I was going with my numbers. After a painful headache and several hours of studying, I did manage to pass the test. However, I knew I didn't want to go through that sort of headache again. It might be more work in the short run to make sure I was writing on a blank sheet of paper and painstakingly writing out formulas, but in the long run, when it was time to study for the test, everything would be neatly laid out. Also, the practice I spent writing out the formula drilled it into my mind much more solidly than when I just rushed ahead, trying to complete problems.

Below, you can see my old work where it was sloppy, without full steps, and definitely rushed. Contrast it with my later work where everything is laid out carefully for accuracy and precision (despite taking more time), and you can see a definite improvement in my learning strategies! I would recommend the second way. It's definitely helpful to take that extra time to go the extra mile. Sloppy work means sloppy results, after all!



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__Applying past knowledge to new situations__: Often students approach each task as if it were for the very first time. Its like each experience is independent, has no relationship to what has come before or what comes after. Psychologists call this an "episodic grasp of reality" (Feuerstein 1980)

Quite recently, we began to calculate pH and pOH. Learning the new formulas was not too difficult. It was something new, yes, but it wasn't difficult because every practice problem we did, a quick reference back to the new formulas, and everything became crystal clear. There was nothing that I needed that wasn't in that lesson. Well, that was true until I got to number 7. The question said: "3.73 grams of potassium hydroxide are dissolved in 250 mL of water. Calculate the pH of the resultant solution." My first reaction was to say something like: 'what?' and then lean over to my friend to see what she had gotten.

The formulas from that lesson told me quite clearly how to get pH if I knew the pOH. Or if I knew the concentration of [H+] ions. I could even get the pH in a roundabout way if I at least knew the concentration of [OH-]. Well, I didn't. I knew some lousy grams and mL. What use was that, really? Naturally, by this point, my friend had looked over to see why I was peering over her shoulder. I gave her my best oh-woe-is-me-I-don't-know-what-to-do look and she pointed at her paper to a vaguely familiar formula. A C equaling a small n over a capital V.

My reaction, was quite appropriately, dismay. I had to still remember stuff from what felt like ages ago? You mean when I took the test, I wasn't done with all these m's and M's and C's and V's? Clearly not. Still, I took a pause and searched back in my memory (as well as my old chem notes). To my surprise, a lot of it came back very quickly and the question soon made a lot more sense. In fact, it seemed manageable to solve, even easy, with all this past knowledge. Perhaps I wouldn't ever be asked on this unit's test something along the lines of, 'what does little n stand for?' but without a doubt, knowing it would help be solve questions about pH. Learning is a building process. Take a little past and sprinkle some of the present on top. Taking the concentration formula, the mole formula, and then my newly learned formulas about pOH and pH, I quickly managed to deduce the answer, even without formulas about concentration and moles in my new formula reference column.

Below, you can see my working for question seven. As you can see, there's a combination of formulas. Formulas from the stoichiometry unit, as well as formulas from the current unit about acids and bases. Everything's coming together so clearly!



Quarter 2: January 4th, 2012

__Thinking about our thinking (metacognition)__: It is important to think about your own learning strategies and to evaluate their effectiveness. Can you explain your own learning strategies? If you were asked "Tell us what went on in your head to come up with that conclusion?" would you say, "I don't know I just did it!"?

During the APAC week, I missed the last two lessons on Stoichiometry; the lessons that dealt with concentration and volume. Formulas like concentration equaling moles divided by volume were taught to me after I returned. Amidst all the make-up work I had to do, time was a little tight and I regret to say that I probably didn't spend sufficient time learning all the concepts. In my sleep weary state, I thought I had learned it all very brilliantly. I sat down to take the test feeling quite assured that everything would be fine. Questions that drew on earlier Stoichiometry lessons were simp enough. Then, I began to reach the questions on concentration. I quickly realized that I couldn't recall if the formula was volume over moles or moles over volume. Both seemed equally plausible and under other circumstances, I probably would've just guessed.

It was evident, however, that which one I picked wouldn't just determine if I got one question right or wrong, but all the questions that had to do with concentration. Straining my memory, I felt like the formula was volume over moles. Just feeling like I was right wouldn't be enough. I needed a way to be sure. It was hard to stop myself from just going ahead. There was a little voice in my head reminding me that time was ticking down. I had to finish the test. But, I had to remind myself, finishing my test with the wrong formula would be pointless. I had to be sure. What had gone on in my mind when I looked at the answer choices and suddenly, I was almost positive that the formula was volume over moles? If I were trying to teach someone else this formula, I couldn't just say, "Look! Just look! Can't you tell?!"

So I looked again. According to the multiple choice answer choices, I knew that the unit for concentration was mol dm^-3. Negative three. Where else had I seen a negative number as an exponent? g mol^-1. Grams per mol to the negative one. Mass over mole. The formula for molar mass (if you rearranged the formula for moles) was mass over mole. The mass game first and the mol had the negative number over it. So if the unit for concentration was mol dm^-3 then the formula for concentration should be moles over volume in dm. The original formula I was so sure about turned out to be wrong. It was definitely moles over volume. Once I had spent a minute thinking this through, I was confident that this time, I was correct. My thinking was logical and my logic was sound. I ended getting them all correct because I paused to make sure that my conclusion made sense in logical steps. Had I just went on with my initial guess, my test score would have been much lower.

Here is evidence from my test of me using the correct formula that I managed to deduce in time. If you look closely, you can see the eraser marks where I had originally written the wrong formula.



__Listening to others with understanding and empathy__: Sometimes we ridicule or put down the ideas of others in a group situation. Interrupting when someone is talking shows a lack of respect for that person's idea. Devote your mental energy to another and invest in your partner's ideas.

On the morning before our chemistry exam, a friend approached me about precipitates. She had missed that lesson and it was a lesson that I found quite easy. I was more than prepared to brush her off and tell her that it would be easy and she'd be fine on the test. Before I could get the words out, she told me that she had asked another friend of ours and that friend had told her that she hadn't missed much when she missed the class. Nonetheless, she was concerned and wanted to know if I could explain it to her. That made me pause. Someone else had done exactly what I had been planning to do. But it was easy, wasn't it, to tell someone they hadn't missed much when you'd been in the lesson yourself. When I missed a couple of lessons and people brushed me off saying it was easy, I always found myself a little lost when it came to doing the supposedly 'easy' work. Could it be the same with my friend? She just needed someone to explain to her the things she missed. Sure, I had an exam to study for that afternoon but she was sitting the same exam and seeing as she had missed the lesson, was undeniably in more trouble than I was. If I were in her position, I'd no doubt be stressed and worried that there would be many questions on the concept I missed and I'd be unable to answer any of them!

So I smiled at her and asked her what part she didn't understand. I'm glad I did. Not only did I manage to teach her about precipitates, I reviewed them myself and she even managed to point out a couple of things I hadn't noticed myself. Two heads are better than one, they always say. Even if she hadn't been in the class, she had insights on the subject that I had missed. In the end, we both benefited, all because I didn't brush her off and listened to her. I understood her predicament. I worked through the problems with her. It wasn't just me teaching, though. Both of us came out with new knowledge and I have no doubt that both of us did well in that area of the exam.

Here you can see my notes. But the folded crease down the middle and the additional markings were things my friend helped me to add so we could both make better sense of the material by opening ourselves to the other's ideas.



Quarter 1:

__Responding with Wonderment and Awe__: Some people are "turned off" to learning. They make statements like "When am I ever going to use this stuff" or "Why do I have to think so much" or "Does this count for a grade". Learning can be exciting and fulfilling, if you approach it with wonderment and awe.

I can't really lie here so I guess I'll just admit that school makes me cringe sometimes. Waking up early in the morning to drag yourself to school only to sit through class after class. Sometimes, it's hard to stay awake. Sometimes, everything's just so confusing. Sometimes, I just want to bang my head on the desk and block all my failed tests from view. Despite this all, I find myself going to school over and over again. Part of it has to do with obligation. A big part of it has to do with learning, though. With all the frustrations that school comes with, there is no doubt that it comes hand-in-hand with knowledge, intelligence, and a broader mind.

However, to have the benefits of school outweigh the frustrations, I've come to realize everything's a lot easier if you at least approach it with an open mind ready to learn rather than a grumbly one. If you want to see negatives in the world, quite often you will. This quarter, I attempted to approach everything with a more positive light. A good place to start would be experiments, of course. It's a lot easier to be excited about something you're doing and seeing than just sitting listening to a teacher. It might take awhile before I can enthusiastically say that I love lectures. But while I still may not know when I will ever need to burn sugar to make glucose, I can honestly say that I had fun when doing so and will hopefully continue to enjoy labs and hands-on experimentation so long as I approach it positively.

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__Persisting__: Do you sometimes say, "I just can't do this" or "This is too hard"? Do you give up when the answer is not immediately apparent? Persistence means staying the course, taking the time to work at something until you achieve excellence.

I believe that persistence does not necessarily have to do with giving up at understanding a concept, it just has to do with giving up in general. Persisting means not giving up at anything. So far, a lot of the content we've done has been stuff I've seen before in chemistry 10, so it's building on previous knowledge and therefore, not too challenging. However, fire has always been something that has scared me quite a bit. Whenever we have to use the burners in class, I always have my partner do it because quite frankly, the idea of myself being consumed in flames has always popped into mind.

However, our most recent stations did involve a great deal of fire and at the first two or three stations, I watched as some other group member did it. Finally though, I figured that if I didn't step up and attempt, I would never master it. Finally, I offered to try. The first couple of attempts was met with a lot of nervous laughter and some 'how do I do this?' and then, some meek attempts with little success. Persisting did pay off though, and with a whoosh, the flames came to life! At the next station, I could confidently play with fire (safely, of course), and it was a very fulfilling day.