AHA! Chemistry with Prof Bob
  • Home
  • Modules
    • 02 The nature of matter >
      • 0201 Atoms: Building blocks
      • 0202 Classification of matter
    • 05 Chemical reaction, chemical equations >
      • 0500 Overview, preview
      • 0501 Amount of substance, mole
      • 0502 Avogadro constant: How many?
      • 0503 Avogadro constant: Why that number?
      • 0504 Chemical formulas: What do they mean?
      • 0505 What can equations tell us?
      • 0506 Limiting reactants
    • 09 Solutions >
      • 0901 What is a solution?
      • 0902 Miscibility of liquids
      • 0903 Like dissolves like?
      • 0905 Dissolution of ionic salts in water
      • 0906 Can we predict solubilities of salts?
      • 0907 Solution concentration
      • 0908 Chemical species, speciation
      • 0909 Solutes: Electrolytes or non-electrolytes?
      • 0910 Electrolytes - strong or weak?
      • 0911 Concentrated, dilute, strong, weak
      • 0912 Species concentration vs. solution concentration
      • 0913 Weak electrolytes: Getting quantitative
    • 11 Dynamic chemical equilibrium >
      • 1100 Equilibrium: An overview
      • 1101 Visualising dynamic equilibrium
      • 1102 The jargon of equilibrium
      • 1103 Equilibrium constants
    • 22 Evidence from spectroscopy >
      • 2200 Overview, preview
      • 2201 Spectroscopy: Quantization of energies
      • 2202 Light: Wave-particle "duality"
      • 2203 UV-Visible spectroscopy
      • 2204 Beer's law
    • 27 Communicating chemistry >
      • 2700 Overview, preview
      • 2703 The jargon we use
  • TOC
  • Index
  • Teachers' area
    • T01 Communicating chemistry
    • T02 Beer's law
    • T03 Professional amnesia of the chemistry teaching professio
    • T04 Law of equilibrium
    • T05 Visusalizing dynamic chemical equilibrium
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​
Communicating chemistry:
​
I know what I meant

Picture
Prof Bob says ....

There is surely nothing more universally important to the teaching/learning process, whether in chemistry or political history, than an awareness of the challenges involved in communication between two or more people.

Even in everyday conversations between friends about mundane things, we so often hear (amongst those other people, of course) the exclamation "But I thought you meant ......!" And if one more person who is giving me instructions tells me "You can't miss it" I swear that I will  .... [I'm trying to think what I will do] ....

​And why didn't those who designed the directional signs on our freeways do a course in communication?

"Ah" they say "I know what I meant. It was obvious to me."

So much more probable is a communication mismatch between teacher and student, having such different levels of knowledge and exposure in the subject. As well as being so much more important!
And so ....

The issue of achieving meaningful communication is so universal that in teaching/learning situations, awareness is just as important to the student as to the teacher. 

So, I am hoping that my modules drawing attention to communication issues are as useful to students as to teachers. 

Rather than publish each module twice (once in the teachers' area, and again as a student module), I will publish them as student modules (Section 27: Communicating Chemistry) and provide links here.
Links to modules on the subject of Communicating chemistry: I knew what I meant:

2701
2702
2703 The jargon we use
2704


I will acknowledge the source of the cartoon header above as soon as I track it down.
Picture
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  • Home
  • Modules
    • 02 The nature of matter >
      • 0201 Atoms: Building blocks
      • 0202 Classification of matter
    • 05 Chemical reaction, chemical equations >
      • 0500 Overview, preview
      • 0501 Amount of substance, mole
      • 0502 Avogadro constant: How many?
      • 0503 Avogadro constant: Why that number?
      • 0504 Chemical formulas: What do they mean?
      • 0505 What can equations tell us?
      • 0506 Limiting reactants
    • 09 Solutions >
      • 0901 What is a solution?
      • 0902 Miscibility of liquids
      • 0903 Like dissolves like?
      • 0905 Dissolution of ionic salts in water
      • 0906 Can we predict solubilities of salts?
      • 0907 Solution concentration
      • 0908 Chemical species, speciation
      • 0909 Solutes: Electrolytes or non-electrolytes?
      • 0910 Electrolytes - strong or weak?
      • 0911 Concentrated, dilute, strong, weak
      • 0912 Species concentration vs. solution concentration
      • 0913 Weak electrolytes: Getting quantitative
    • 11 Dynamic chemical equilibrium >
      • 1100 Equilibrium: An overview
      • 1101 Visualising dynamic equilibrium
      • 1102 The jargon of equilibrium
      • 1103 Equilibrium constants
    • 22 Evidence from spectroscopy >
      • 2200 Overview, preview
      • 2201 Spectroscopy: Quantization of energies
      • 2202 Light: Wave-particle "duality"
      • 2203 UV-Visible spectroscopy
      • 2204 Beer's law
    • 27 Communicating chemistry >
      • 2700 Overview, preview
      • 2703 The jargon we use
  • TOC
  • Index
  • Teachers' area
    • T01 Communicating chemistry
    • T02 Beer's law
    • T03 Professional amnesia of the chemistry teaching professio
    • T04 Law of equilibrium
    • T05 Visusalizing dynamic chemical equilibrium
  • Aha! Whatever
    • Playful dolphins
    • The University of Western Australia
    • Kings Park
  • Prof Bob?
    • Family
    • Travel
    • Perth
    • At work
  • Travelling
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • In four days for two days