1 00:00:05,090 --> 00:00:07,770 CATHERINE DRENNAN: I really want the students to feel actively 2 00:00:07,770 --> 00:00:10,040 participating in lectures. 3 00:00:10,040 --> 00:00:11,970 And so the clicker's definitely help. 4 00:00:11,970 --> 00:00:15,870 I try to space them every five to seven minutes that there's 5 00:00:15,870 --> 00:00:17,390 a clicker question. 6 00:00:17,390 --> 00:00:21,090 And I know from teaching this a number of times 7 00:00:21,090 --> 00:00:23,640 now that some of the clicker questions, 8 00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:26,500 they will-- pretty much all the students will get right. 9 00:00:26,500 --> 00:00:29,105 And they'll be all happy and feel good. 10 00:00:29,105 --> 00:00:31,230 And then there are other ones that I ask on purpose 11 00:00:31,230 --> 00:00:34,900 because I know that these are questions that the students can 12 00:00:34,900 --> 00:00:36,670 really hang up on on exams. 13 00:00:36,670 --> 00:00:38,160 They're tricky things. 14 00:00:38,160 --> 00:00:39,990 And so I want them to make the mistake 15 00:00:39,990 --> 00:00:42,050 when it doesn't count in the clicker questions 16 00:00:42,050 --> 00:00:43,810 so they get it right on the exam. 17 00:00:43,810 --> 00:00:46,330 And so one thing that I will do, I'll 18 00:00:46,330 --> 00:00:50,100 often try to get them to tell-- if they 19 00:00:50,100 --> 00:00:52,270 got it right, explain why. 20 00:00:52,270 --> 00:00:53,910 So that's one thing I like to do. 21 00:00:53,910 --> 00:00:57,210 And I go around to different conferences and things 22 00:00:57,210 --> 00:01:01,940 and often will pick up free pens, or free whatever, rulers, 23 00:01:01,940 --> 00:01:03,930 all sorts of stuff that people give out. 24 00:01:03,930 --> 00:01:06,240 And so then I say, if someone-- you know, 25 00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:07,990 and they see that they've gotten it right. 26 00:01:07,990 --> 00:01:10,448 So that makes them feel a little more confident before they 27 00:01:10,448 --> 00:01:13,070 speak in front of 350 people. 28 00:01:13,070 --> 00:01:17,480 And said, OK, I have this awesome little periodic table 29 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:19,120 ruler thing. 30 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:20,910 Who can tell me what the answer is? 31 00:01:20,910 --> 00:01:23,530 And so then I have a TA go around with a microphone, 32 00:01:23,530 --> 00:01:26,430 and that they say how they thought about the problem, what 33 00:01:26,430 --> 00:01:28,130 the answer is. 34 00:01:28,130 --> 00:01:31,040 And so just kind of encourage people to talk. 35 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:34,040 --ask people to explain, now that they 36 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:38,310 know what the right answer is, if someone will explain 37 00:01:38,310 --> 00:01:39,990 why that is the right answer. 38 00:01:39,990 --> 00:01:41,990 And I know it's a big class and people sometimes 39 00:01:41,990 --> 00:01:45,420 get nervous about talking, so I bribe people. 40 00:01:45,420 --> 00:01:49,165 So today the person who answers why that is correct 41 00:01:49,165 --> 00:01:52,310 will get at an MIT chemistry t-shirt. 42 00:01:52,310 --> 00:01:53,270 AUDIENCE: All right. 43 00:01:53,270 --> 00:01:54,350 Let's see. 44 00:01:54,350 --> 00:01:57,590 For every-- if you're using 5 moles of N2, 45 00:01:57,590 --> 00:02:01,760 you need 15 moles of hydrogen gas. 46 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:03,550 So since there's not enough hydrogen gas, 47 00:02:03,550 --> 00:02:07,400 there's only 10 moles, that means the hydrogen gas should 48 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:12,180 be the limiting reactant since you would need roughly 3.33 49 00:02:12,180 --> 00:02:13,909 moles of N2 for it. 50 00:02:13,909 --> 00:02:14,950 CATHERINE DRENNAN: Great. 51 00:02:14,950 --> 00:02:18,260 And here is an MIT chemistry t-shirt. 52 00:02:21,850 --> 00:02:24,460 Other times, if the clicker question, 53 00:02:24,460 --> 00:02:26,820 you know, it's like 50/50 in the answer, 54 00:02:26,820 --> 00:02:28,690 then I won't tell them what's right 55 00:02:28,690 --> 00:02:32,240 and ask them to talk to their neighbor and vote again. 56 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:36,450 And sometimes I'll also have them talk to each other, 57 00:02:36,450 --> 00:02:39,100 and then weigh in on something. 58 00:02:39,100 --> 00:02:42,380 And whenever we're going to do a demo, 59 00:02:42,380 --> 00:02:44,970 I want them to think about what might happen 60 00:02:44,970 --> 00:02:49,290 and what the possibilities are, things like that. 61 00:02:49,290 --> 00:02:51,790 And sometimes that will be a clicker question ahead of time. 62 00:02:51,790 --> 00:02:54,100 And then they're really ready and engaged 63 00:02:54,100 --> 00:02:58,250 when they see the demo of what the answer is going to be. 64 00:02:58,250 --> 00:03:02,010 So those are some of the things that I can do. 65 00:03:02,010 --> 00:03:04,850 Another one of the fun things that I 66 00:03:04,850 --> 00:03:07,900 like when I'm talking about the difference 67 00:03:07,900 --> 00:03:10,150 between thermodynamics and kinetics, 68 00:03:10,150 --> 00:03:14,440 we can talk about how a reaction might be thermodynamically 69 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:18,030 favorable, and so, you know, combustion of sugar-- 70 00:03:18,030 --> 00:03:19,760 thermodynamically favorable. 71 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:21,260 So I'll bring in some candy. 72 00:03:21,260 --> 00:03:25,170 And we do like a demo in class, and everyone has a candy. 73 00:03:25,170 --> 00:03:27,900 And it's like OK, when you open it up to oxygen, 74 00:03:27,900 --> 00:03:30,520 there should be CO2 released. 75 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:34,120 And so then we do the demo and see that it's actually 76 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:35,270 a slow reaction. 77 00:03:35,270 --> 00:03:37,830 So we don't see the gas release. 78 00:03:37,830 --> 00:03:41,190 But, you know, ways where everyone in the class 79 00:03:41,190 --> 00:03:43,650 can have something that they do a demo with, even 80 00:03:43,650 --> 00:03:45,170 if it's a little bit silly. 81 00:03:45,170 --> 00:03:49,660 Still there is that engagement then with the material.