[re:]Education » chemistry

Finally catching up…

cookp — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 00:15:13 +0000

I have come to the point of acceptance with the fact that my teaching job leaves little blogging time. But, I had a bug in my ear tonight to get some video onto youtube, and it also serves as a good opportunity to post some activities.

This first video is the most recent. My conceptual physics students have been studying heat and heat transfer. Last week I decided to make up a batch of thermite and use it to illustrate heat transfer via conduction, convection and radiation. My students got a big kick out of this, even though it was very cold out when we did the demo.

Chem-o-ween from Phil Cook on Vimeo.

This second video comes from the vault. I first started “Chem-o-ween” in 2006 while teaching at Oak Park & River Forest High School. I originally had planned for these demos to be performed for my chemistry students. This very quickly turned (via word of mouth) into a large scale performance for the majority of the chemistry classes that day. Definitely a memorable experience. I miss the chemistry teachers at OPRF very much.

Hope you enjoy the videos.

Chem-o-ween 2008 LIVE Video Feed

cookp — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:20:18 +0000

Tonight I will be conducting my second annual chemistry demonstration show, “Chem-o-ween 2008″ at the Culver Academies. This is the first time the event will be streamed live via ustream. Check back tonight at 6pm EDT for the show!

Free TV Show from Ustream

Reminiscing upon the past…

cookp — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 17:43:57 +0000

This summer marks a new venture in connectedness on my part. Using facebook and twitter, I have built important learning communities, both educational and social. But I find myself very nostalgic today, in particular focusing on my first teaching job, where I taught chemistry and physics (in various “flavors”) at Roberto Clemente Community Academy. I was a part of the small schools initiative. Within the 2000+ populous of the school, I was charged with educating students in the math science and technology academy, known as MSTA. The main reason for this post is a video that I made my last year teaching at Clemente. The project was to construct a water and gas powered rocket that would carry a raw egg aloft and then safely back to earth without damage. It was likely the most fulfilling project that I conducted while at that school.

When I came across the video, I watched it again, and all of the emotions of the day that I showed it to my class came flooding back. It is not that it was an astounding video, but it was the last video that I made for my students prior to leaving Chicago. This was especially hard for me as many of the students had been in my class for the past two years. I had taught them chemistry, then challenged them to take ap chem. A recent facebook connection with a prior student motivated me to post the video, in the hopes that I could reconnect with as many of the original class members are possible.