Open University SXR205 Chemistry Summer School part 1
Well that was all rather disappointing. I'm not sure that I learned much at all until Thursday (of which more later).
There were about 40 of us in all, split into three groups (red, green and I was in blue), each with a tutor who followed us around. We started each day in the lab at 9am, lunched from 12.30 until 2, which involved a trek up to hall and back, and then more labs until 5.30pm. At 12.30 and 5.30 we were chucked out of the lab, finished or not. Dinner was from 6, then classes from 7.15 until 9.15 every night except one, and then we had to finish writing up each day's experiment before starting the next one.
The experiments themselves were (mostly) interesting, and it was great opportunity to learn experimental techniques that, not having done any chemistry since 1984, I had not previously encountered. However, the experienced was totally ruined by the course being badly planned so that everything was incredibly rushed, and the unacceptable attitude of some of the tutors.
Saturday evening we had a compulsory session on risk assessment, how to keep a lab notebook, health & safety, and general Q&A. My tutor decided she wasn't going to do the scheduled activities so we finished early, mostly I suspect because she wanted to get to the bar. I spoke to her about how nervous I was, and worried about being clumsy and not very practical. She told me not to worry, it would be fine. Spent the evening catching up on some email and then to bed early.
All day Sunday: Activity A in lab. Turned up and just told to find a bench. Tried to follow instructions in book but no idea where to find anything. The first session was a nice colour-change test-tube experiment for which the conclusion was: yellow colour means chromate ions are present, orange means dichromate. Ok, got that. But then we mixed together some other things to get coloured liquids and solid precipitates. The liquid was bright yellow. Aha! So that means chromate ions, right? So the chromate ions are in the solution, and the other bits are forming the solid. Spent quite a while trying to figure out a balanced equation for this as the book instructed, but couldn't get it to work. Asked tutor. Tutor grabbed pen and made me feel like a complete moron for not realising that although the liquid was more yellow than a yellow thing, it was actually orange, so the dichromate was in the solution and the chromate in the solid. I was stressed and upset.
The next part of the morning we were put into pairs and I was paired with a lovely lady named Anne. We had to get a series of absorption spectra and this part was fairly straight-forward. At certain intervals the book told us to discuss our results or conclusions with our tutor. Except we mostly couldn't find her. When we did find her, she would airily wave us away saying she'd be right with us, and then disappear again. By lunchtime I was stressed, frustrated and feeling stupid and humiliated. Anne was not happy either, and we were a bit behind by lunchtime, when we were thrown out of the lab.
I spent lunchtime sobbing in my room. What was the point of rushing through a load of experiments with no understanding? Why was I there if I wasn't learnin anything? On the way to afternoon lab I went to the office to look at some course materials, feeling pretty upset, when the course director came in. He asked me what was the matter and I burst into tears, told him how I felt and he was lovely, but not greatly helpful.
The afternoon was much the same. For much of the time our tutor was sitting at the front desk discussing her personal life with the green tutor. Eventually we gave up on her and went to the PhD student who was helping out (the lovely Chiara) instead. She was great and we carried on, eventually obtaining all of the (tedious, repeat the same procedure all afternoon) spectra. At five to five our tutor finally deigned to put in an appearance and asked us whether everything was ok. Just a teeny bit late, huh?
On the very first page of the very first activity book it says:
- Don't worry if you deviate from the schedule
- Discuss with your tutor what you have seen and what you think it means before moving on
- Don't attempt to use any instrument before seeking a tutor's advice.
We were also told on the first evening that we must record everything in our lab books as we went along.
None of this happened in practice. I was made to feel stupid for being slow and for asking questions, and there was no time to write much down or to reflect on what any of it meant. Even the course director told me not to worry, there isn't time to think about it, just leave some blank pages and do the thinking bit later. What sort of pedagogy is that?
After dinner there were no classes so I went to my room and worked until 1am writing up.
There were about 40 of us in all, split into three groups (red, green and I was in blue), each with a tutor who followed us around. We started each day in the lab at 9am, lunched from 12.30 until 2, which involved a trek up to hall and back, and then more labs until 5.30pm. At 12.30 and 5.30 we were chucked out of the lab, finished or not. Dinner was from 6, then classes from 7.15 until 9.15 every night except one, and then we had to finish writing up each day's experiment before starting the next one.
The experiments themselves were (mostly) interesting, and it was great opportunity to learn experimental techniques that, not having done any chemistry since 1984, I had not previously encountered. However, the experienced was totally ruined by the course being badly planned so that everything was incredibly rushed, and the unacceptable attitude of some of the tutors.
Saturday evening we had a compulsory session on risk assessment, how to keep a lab notebook, health & safety, and general Q&A. My tutor decided she wasn't going to do the scheduled activities so we finished early, mostly I suspect because she wanted to get to the bar. I spoke to her about how nervous I was, and worried about being clumsy and not very practical. She told me not to worry, it would be fine. Spent the evening catching up on some email and then to bed early.
All day Sunday: Activity A in lab. Turned up and just told to find a bench. Tried to follow instructions in book but no idea where to find anything. The first session was a nice colour-change test-tube experiment for which the conclusion was: yellow colour means chromate ions are present, orange means dichromate. Ok, got that. But then we mixed together some other things to get coloured liquids and solid precipitates. The liquid was bright yellow. Aha! So that means chromate ions, right? So the chromate ions are in the solution, and the other bits are forming the solid. Spent quite a while trying to figure out a balanced equation for this as the book instructed, but couldn't get it to work. Asked tutor. Tutor grabbed pen and made me feel like a complete moron for not realising that although the liquid was more yellow than a yellow thing, it was actually orange, so the dichromate was in the solution and the chromate in the solid. I was stressed and upset.
The next part of the morning we were put into pairs and I was paired with a lovely lady named Anne. We had to get a series of absorption spectra and this part was fairly straight-forward. At certain intervals the book told us to discuss our results or conclusions with our tutor. Except we mostly couldn't find her. When we did find her, she would airily wave us away saying she'd be right with us, and then disappear again. By lunchtime I was stressed, frustrated and feeling stupid and humiliated. Anne was not happy either, and we were a bit behind by lunchtime, when we were thrown out of the lab.
I spent lunchtime sobbing in my room. What was the point of rushing through a load of experiments with no understanding? Why was I there if I wasn't learnin anything? On the way to afternoon lab I went to the office to look at some course materials, feeling pretty upset, when the course director came in. He asked me what was the matter and I burst into tears, told him how I felt and he was lovely, but not greatly helpful.
The afternoon was much the same. For much of the time our tutor was sitting at the front desk discussing her personal life with the green tutor. Eventually we gave up on her and went to the PhD student who was helping out (the lovely Chiara) instead. She was great and we carried on, eventually obtaining all of the (tedious, repeat the same procedure all afternoon) spectra. At five to five our tutor finally deigned to put in an appearance and asked us whether everything was ok. Just a teeny bit late, huh?
On the very first page of the very first activity book it says:
- Don't worry if you deviate from the schedule
- Discuss with your tutor what you have seen and what you think it means before moving on
- Don't attempt to use any instrument before seeking a tutor's advice.
We were also told on the first evening that we must record everything in our lab books as we went along.
None of this happened in practice. I was made to feel stupid for being slow and for asking questions, and there was no time to write much down or to reflect on what any of it meant. Even the course director told me not to worry, there isn't time to think about it, just leave some blank pages and do the thinking bit later. What sort of pedagogy is that?
After dinner there were no classes so I went to my room and worked until 1am writing up.