/oss/taxonomy/term/4632/all en /oss/article/contributors-general-science/call-teach-chemistry <p>Is there something in your past to put you on a path to become an educator? When I was a teenager I did one of those guidance counsellor tests which suggested I should become one. I laughed. But a couple of years later, when I helped a girl with her chemistry homework at the college library, she said I had the makings of a good teacher. My favorite chemistry professor in university reminded me of the Gilligan’s Island professor. Professor McElcheron was a tinkerer in his own lab, and instead of being shipwrecked like the TV character, he lived by choice on his own island.</p> Fri, 10 Nov 2023 16:38:51 +0000 Enrico Uva B.Sc. Dip. Ed. 9719 at /oss /oss/article/contributors-general-science/teaching-also-learning <p>I have spent many years teaching chemistry to high school students and always enjoyed carrying out demonstrations. For students, watching chemicals perform their magic live is far more memorable than looking at equations on the blackboard. But teaching is also learning, as I discovered years ago when I wanted to show my students how soft a metal sodium is, and of course I planned to subsequently demonstrate its classic, fiery reaction with water. Sodium reacts with water to produce sodium hydroxide and hydrogen gas which ignites due to the heat generated by the reaction.</p> Tue, 16 Aug 2022 20:47:44 +0000 Enrico Uva B.Sc. Dip. Ed. 9201 at /oss