Category Archives: General Chemistry Symposium

Thanks to all for Making the Symposium a Success

The General Chemistry Symposium welcomed attendees with two days of informative talks and discussions as well as a social event the first evening with interesting posters, wine, and appetizers. There was a feeling of appreciation at CSU for providing this opportunity for those of us who are dedicated to the effective teaching of chemistry. We hope each year to expand the topics for presentation and discussion and to include teachers also in high schools and middle schools as well as parents of home school children. The main objective of the symposium is to present a forum to discuss the many different aspects and difficulties in teaching our subject. Let’s keep moving forward and upward in our endeavors to teach the subject effectively. Thanks to all that were in attendence. You made the symposium a success. We hope to see everyone next year.

Just 4 days until the General Chemistry Symposium

Everything for the symposium is all set!! Many people have worked hard over the last few weeks and are still working to make sure the event is well organized and enjoyed by all who attend. We are excited to see old friends and meet new ones. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to exchange ideas and share our knowledge about teaching chemistry. It will certainly be an informative session. If you are thinking about attending the symposium, you can still register–it is not too late.
Cheers
Anne

The General Chemistry Symposium: Today’s Challenges for Teachers of Chemistry

We have all been working hard organizing the General Chemistry Symposium. It will be a very informative couple of days. We are still working on the schedule of talks/posters/workshops, and we have some very interesting topics that will be presented at the symposium. We have all seen many changes over the years, but today in addition to delivering the content of a chemistry curriculum we also face many of the same challenges as we did in the past. Some of these challenges include what to do about cheating, teaching in a large lecture hall, teaching chemistry with limited resources, how to engage students, etc. Should these challenges be addressed culturally or educationally? Do our students understand what it is to be students? Many of these challenges will be addressed at the symposium. Hopefully, together we can come up with solutions to some of these issues that we face everyday as teachers.

We are looking forward to your input and hopefully a resolution to some of these problems. We can do this if we talk and share our experiences as teachers of chemistry.