Aha! Chemistry with Prof Bob
  • HOME
    • TALK WITH PROF BOB?
  • LEARNING MODULES
    • Chapter 02 Stuff, matter: What is it? >
      • 0200 Stuff, matter: A theory of atoms
      • 0201 Atoms: The building blocks of all stuff
      • 0202 People classifying stuffs. Why?
    • Chapter 05 Chemical reactions and chemical equations >
      • 0500 Chemical reactions and chemical equations. Overview
      • 0501 Chemical amount and its unit of measurement, mole
      • 0502 The Avogadro constant: How many is that?
      • 0503 The Avogadro constant: Why is it that number?
      • 0504 Chemical formulas: What can they tell us??
      • 0505 Chemical equations: What can they tell us?
      • 0506 Limiting reactants: How much reaction can happen?
      • 0507 Balanced chemical equations: What are they?
      • 0508 Chemical reactions as competitions
    • Chapter 09 Aqueous solutions >
      • 0901 What is a solution? And what is not?
      • 0902 Miscibility of liquids in each other
      • 0903 Like dissolves like? Shades of grey
      • 0905 Dissolution of ionic salts in water: A competition
      • 0906 Can we predict solubilities of salts?
      • 0907 Solution concentration
      • 0908 Chemical species, speciation in aqueous solution
      • 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
    • Chapter 11: Dynamic chemical equilibrium >
      • 1100 Dynamic chemical equilibrium: Overview
      • 1101 Visualising dynamic chemical equilibrium
      • 1102 The jargon of chemical equilibrium
      • 1103 Equilibrium constants: The law of equilibrium
      • 1104 The law of equilibrium: an analogy
    • Chapter 22 Evidence from spectroscopy >
      • 2200 Spectroscopy: Overview and preview
      • 2201 Quantisation of forms of energy
      • 2202 Light: Wave-particle "duality"
      • 2203 Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy
      • 2204 Beer’s law: How much light is transmitted?
    • ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMISTRY >
      • EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE >
        • Chapter 27 The greenhouse effect, climate change >
          • 2700 The greenhouse effect: overview
          • 2701 Is Earth in energy balance?
          • 2702 CO2 in the atmosphere before 1800
          • 2703 So little CO2! Pffft?
          • 2704 Does CO2 affect Earth's energy balance?
          • 2705 The "greenhouse effect"
          • 2706 Why does CO2 absorb radiation from Earth?
          • 2707 The "enhanced greenhouse effect"
          • 2708 Why doesn't CO2 absorb the radiation from the sun?
          • 2709 Why are N2 and O2 not greenhouse gases?
          • 2710 Doesn't water vapour absorb all the IR?
          • 2711 Carbon dioxide from our cars
          • 2712 The source of energy from combustion
          • 2713 Comparing fuels as energy sources
          • 2714 Methane: How does it compare as a GHG?
          • 2715 Different sorts of pollution of the atmosphere
          • 2716 "Acidification" of seawater
      • FUELS
      • EARTH'S OCEANS AND WATERWAYS
  • TEACHERS' CORNER
    • TC01 Language and meaning in chemistry >
      • TC0101 The jargon we use
    • TC02 REPRESENTATION IN CHEMISTRY
    • TC03 MODELLING IN CHEMISTRY
    • TC04 KNOWING AND LEARNING
    • TC05 Communicating chemistry >
      • TC0501 Overview, preview
    • TC06 COMPLEXITY of LEARNING CHEMISTRY
    • TC07 PEDAGOGOICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE, PCK >
      • TC0701 Amnesia of the chemistry teaching professioN
    • MODULE-SPECIFIC PCK >
      • Chapter PCK11 Dynamic chemical equilibrium >
        • PCK1101 Visusalizing dynamic chemical equilibrium
        • PCK1103 Equilibrium constants: The law of equilibrium
      • Chapter PCK22 Evidence from spectroscopy >
        • PCK2204 Beer's law
  • NAVIGATION
    • Table of contents
    • Index, alphabetical

Teachers’ corner: Communicating chemistry TC0501

Communicating chemistry: Overview

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!

​So much for the generalities .....
​
Communication in chemistry

What a complex world is chemistry! What challenges for communication ....

In what follows, "talker" and "talkee" may refer to teacher and student(s), but not necessarily. They may be two chemists. Or a group of students. Or Bill Banker and Fatima Farmer trying to make sense of the world (if they are still talking with each other).

Do both talker and talkee  realise whether the subject matter is at the macroscopic, observational level, or at the sub-microscopic, invisible, imagined level? For example, when talker ambiguously asks "What is the shape of water?"

Do both talker and talkee  appreciate when the subject matter is "fact" derived from experimental data, and when it is rationalisation of the evidence through modelling? Or that there may be several sensible models to explain the evidence? Is hybridization of orbitals a "fact"? Oh yeah .. have a look at the wording of relevant questions in some textbook exercises and exam papers!

Do both talker and talkee make clear distinction between the reality and the representation? For example, is the talker contemplating what is happening in a reaction mixture, while the talkee is concentrating on the equation for the reaction?

Do both talker and talkee have exactly the same understanding of the meaning of words particular to the field of chemistry - like entropy, electron affinity, ionic bonding, and standard state?

Do both talker and talkee have exactly the same understanding of the meaning of words used in chemistry that are also used in everyday life, sometimes with entirely different meanings - such as dispersion, saturation, weak, equilibrium, resonance, and complex?

Do talker and talkee have similar abilities of visualization of the sub-microscopic world of a reaction mixture?

Do both talker and talkee understand when the focus of modelling is a single molecule (bond angle, dipole, covalent bond), and when modelling necessarily requires visualization of a multi-molecular system (evaporation, hydrogen bonding, the liquid state)?

Do talker and talkee have similar abilities to "see" in three dimensions drawings of the structures of molecules?
​

T05 modules

Through the modules in this chapter, Prof Bob will try to develop an awareness of possible pitfalls in communicating chemistry - or, to take a more positive outlook, an awareness of issues that can contribute to successful communication in chemistry.

No attempt will be made to be comprehensive, nor to follow a strictly logical sequence. Each module will have a message. 
​

​


​Finding your way around .....

You can browse or search the Aha! Learning chemistry website in the following ways:
  • Use the drop-down menus from the buttons at the top of each page to browse the modules chapter-by-chapter.
  • Click to go to the TABLE OF CONTENTS (also from the NAVIGATION button) to see all available chapters and modules in numbered sequence.
  • Click to go to the ALPHABETICAL INDEX. (also from the NAVIGATION ​button).
  • Enter a word or phrase in the Search box at the top of each page.

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LEARNING CHEMISTRY FOR UNDERSTANDING

Email: [email protected]


​© The content on any page in this website (video, text, original images, and self-check) may be used without charge for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that acknowledgement is given to the Aha! Learning Chemistry with Prof Bob website, with specification of the URL: https://www.ahachemistry.com/​
  • HOME
    • TALK WITH PROF BOB?
  • LEARNING MODULES
    • Chapter 02 Stuff, matter: What is it? >
      • 0200 Stuff, matter: A theory of atoms
      • 0201 Atoms: The building blocks of all stuff
      • 0202 People classifying stuffs. Why?
    • Chapter 05 Chemical reactions and chemical equations >
      • 0500 Chemical reactions and chemical equations. Overview
      • 0501 Chemical amount and its unit of measurement, mole
      • 0502 The Avogadro constant: How many is that?
      • 0503 The Avogadro constant: Why is it that number?
      • 0504 Chemical formulas: What can they tell us??
      • 0505 Chemical equations: What can they tell us?
      • 0506 Limiting reactants: How much reaction can happen?
      • 0507 Balanced chemical equations: What are they?
      • 0508 Chemical reactions as competitions
    • Chapter 09 Aqueous solutions >
      • 0901 What is a solution? And what is not?
      • 0902 Miscibility of liquids in each other
      • 0903 Like dissolves like? Shades of grey
      • 0905 Dissolution of ionic salts in water: A competition
      • 0906 Can we predict solubilities of salts?
      • 0907 Solution concentration
      • 0908 Chemical species, speciation in aqueous solution
      • 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
    • Chapter 11: Dynamic chemical equilibrium >
      • 1100 Dynamic chemical equilibrium: Overview
      • 1101 Visualising dynamic chemical equilibrium
      • 1102 The jargon of chemical equilibrium
      • 1103 Equilibrium constants: The law of equilibrium
      • 1104 The law of equilibrium: an analogy
    • Chapter 22 Evidence from spectroscopy >
      • 2200 Spectroscopy: Overview and preview
      • 2201 Quantisation of forms of energy
      • 2202 Light: Wave-particle "duality"
      • 2203 Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy
      • 2204 Beer’s law: How much light is transmitted?
    • ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMISTRY >
      • EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE >
        • Chapter 27 The greenhouse effect, climate change >
          • 2700 The greenhouse effect: overview
          • 2701 Is Earth in energy balance?
          • 2702 CO2 in the atmosphere before 1800
          • 2703 So little CO2! Pffft?
          • 2704 Does CO2 affect Earth's energy balance?
          • 2705 The "greenhouse effect"
          • 2706 Why does CO2 absorb radiation from Earth?
          • 2707 The "enhanced greenhouse effect"
          • 2708 Why doesn't CO2 absorb the radiation from the sun?
          • 2709 Why are N2 and O2 not greenhouse gases?
          • 2710 Doesn't water vapour absorb all the IR?
          • 2711 Carbon dioxide from our cars
          • 2712 The source of energy from combustion
          • 2713 Comparing fuels as energy sources
          • 2714 Methane: How does it compare as a GHG?
          • 2715 Different sorts of pollution of the atmosphere
          • 2716 "Acidification" of seawater
      • FUELS
      • EARTH'S OCEANS AND WATERWAYS
  • TEACHERS' CORNER
    • TC01 Language and meaning in chemistry >
      • TC0101 The jargon we use
    • TC02 REPRESENTATION IN CHEMISTRY
    • TC03 MODELLING IN CHEMISTRY
    • TC04 KNOWING AND LEARNING
    • TC05 Communicating chemistry >
      • TC0501 Overview, preview
    • TC06 COMPLEXITY of LEARNING CHEMISTRY
    • TC07 PEDAGOGOICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE, PCK >
      • TC0701 Amnesia of the chemistry teaching professioN
    • MODULE-SPECIFIC PCK >
      • Chapter PCK11 Dynamic chemical equilibrium >
        • PCK1101 Visusalizing dynamic chemical equilibrium
        • PCK1103 Equilibrium constants: The law of equilibrium
      • Chapter PCK22 Evidence from spectroscopy >
        • PCK2204 Beer's law
  • NAVIGATION
    • Table of contents
    • Index, alphabetical