Ask Slashdot: Teaching Chemistry To Home-Schooled Kids? 701
First time accepted submitter mikewilsonuk writes "I have a 10-year-old grandson who has shown an interest in chemistry. He is home educated and doesn't read as well as schooled kids of his age. He hasn't had much science education and no chemistry at all. None of his parents or grandparents have chemistry education beyond the school minimum and none feel confident about teaching it. My own memories of chemistry teaching in school are of disappointment, a shocking waste of everyone's time and extreme boredom. I think there must be a better way. Can anyone suggest an approach that won't ruin a child's interest?"
This will fix your life. (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.amazon.com/Thames-Kosmos-645014-CHEM-C3000/dp/B00007B8M6
One word: Explosives (Score:5, Interesting)
Sadly... (Score:5, Interesting)
and
Beakman's World [netflix.com]
Hey, can't be any worse than the "education" he's received up to this point...
Elementeo (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Why isn't he in school? (Score:5, Interesting)
It's hard to find a home schooling group. Sure, there are a lot of friendly one, but the vast majority are doing it for either:
Religious beliefs.
Ignorance about the schools system.
I say hard, but frankly I haven't found one that doesn't have some crazy illiteracy bouncing around. From young earth to anti-vaccines.
And of course actual science and teaching are disciplines, not something you read from a book.
Personally, My kids go do school during the week, and then I sneak home schooling in under the guise of fun science.
Well, my kids are much older now, so there really isn't any guise about it anymore.
Re:Obvious Answer (Score:3, Interesting)
Correllation is not indicitive of causation.
While there is a strong (oh yes, so very strong) correllation between homeschooling and religious jesus brainwashing camps passing as education, this is not always the case.
In this case, the submitter want to know if there is a way to teach chemistry without putting the kid into an environment that they found to be an epic waste of time.
Here's a winner:
Learn chemistry *with* the child.
The internet is for so much more than seeing angelina joelee's boobs.
As a chemistry fettishist myself, here's a basic curriculum to help you get started:
Week 1:
History of modern chemistry, dark ages to late 1920s.
Origins of atomic theory, (avagadro, ideal gas laws, etc.)
The periodic table of elements, and its history and properties. (Molar quantities, valence energy levels, history of radium and the discovery of radioactivity, island of stability, etc.)
Lab safety.
Proper disposal techniques.
Identification of standard lab hardware, and their uses, handling, cleaning, and storage.
Week 2:
Introduction to stoichiometric chemistry.
Lewis acids and lewis bases, (and history of such classifications)
Types of bond, degree of strength of bond energy, electronegativity,orbitals and their structures and properties.
Indicators.
pH testing, how it works, and why it is important.
Basic lab processes for mixing acids and bases.
Titration lab
Definition of "salt".
Lab on determining molarity.
Pyrolisis
Week 3:
Basic introduction to carbon.
Indroduction to common organic molecules and functional groups. (Ether, saccharides, alcohols, alkanes, etc.)
Week 4:
Synthesis of a complex organic compound. (Something like nylon maybe.)
Introduction to catalysts.
Introduction to enzymes.
Introduction to proteins.
Introduction to organic polymers.
After week 4, the kid will either have lost interest, or will be sufficently hooked to ingest chemistry directly from the internet, with some mentoring and tutoring. It is also a higher level of education touchstones than most adults get into. If you set strong academic goals and tests for your student, they will flat hammer a traditionally schooled student of pre-college chemistry on every state exam.
Don't withold imformation or cool knowledge "because they are a kid." You want the kid to hunger for more, not wean them off science. Gorge him with it instead.
Re:One word: Explosives (Score:5, Interesting)
Finding bomb making chemicals in Nepal isn't exactly difficult, so I went with nuclear (fission) devices. That lets you cover the basics of atoms, radioactivity, E=mc^2, chain reactions, a whole bunch of interesting physics, but without the worry that they're going to pop out and buy some U235 or Plutonium.
So I'd suggest a similar approach - find out why the kid is interested in chemistry and work from there. There will probably be a whole lot of "well, before you can understand X you need to know a little about Y...", but if the kid can see the end result of the study then it gives them a little more incentive and interest.
Chemistry experiments I enjoyed as a child:
Growing copper sulphate crystals and/or crystal gardens.
pH testing
Custard powder bombs (under supervision!)
Non-Newtonian fluids (custard again)
Acid/Alkali reactions (the usual volcano)
Producing Hydrogen by reaction or electrolysis and making it go POP!
Re:Thought so. (Score:5, Interesting)
I have seen children who have made it to 3rd grade not knowing how to read due to dyslexia but the school did not know because of clueless or careless teachers
Please be aware that teachers are not allowed to make those kinds of determinations. My wife is a 2nd grade teacher - with a masters degree in special education from a very prestigious university - and is required to refer students to the administration for screening. If the parents don't want their obviously autistic child tested, it doesn't happen. A lot of parents don't want their child labeled with a learning disability, even it it will help them in the long run.
So don't blame the teachers.
Re:"Socialization" (Score:5, Interesting)
I've never heard of children taunted for being slower than their peers at reading. Normally the situation is reversed.
Re:Thought so. (Score:5, Interesting)
I think religious reasons are a fine reason to homeschool. I'd rather they deal with those personal matters at home, instead of demanding the public schoolteachers waste time acknowledging or debating their particular flavor of pseudo-science. And for the path those kids are likely to end up on, which might be theology or music or church administration, it's a perfectly adequate education.
No, a religious homeschooling is not setting those kids up for careers teaching biology or any of the sciences, but with a belief structure like that at home, those kids probably weren't going to end up contributing to the field anyway.
One of my best friends, a devout Christian (elder in his church, etc) who has devout Christian parents, was homeschooled. He did his PhD at MIT and a post-doc at another fairly prestigious university. He's currently a professor at a decent state university whose name you would recognize if I told you. He and I are in the same general area and I'm familiar with his publication record, so I will add that, IMO, the job is way below his weight class. His wife (homeschooled; graduated #1 in her law school) wanted to live in a particular part of the country, so that's where he found a job. One of his siblings has a BS in computer science and another a BS in chemical engineering. The third has an MA in music education and is a public school choir director, so I guess you got one out of four right, there.
I have another Christian friend who was homeschooled. He's 29 years old. As you suggested, he is quite gifted musically, has a masters in theology, and works part time at his church. Of course, he earned that degree while simultaneously working on a PhD in engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, which he fairly recently finished. He is also heavily involved in local 3rd party politics (so much so that he told me the other day that he was offered a position by the party at the state level. He turned it down to work at a local start-up company). His wife doesn't have her fingers in quite as many pies, but she was also homeschooled (they met as kids) and is about to complete an MS in cognitive science.
These are admittedly all "anecdotal evidence." I honestly don't know whether having religious parents and being homeschooled makes a child more or less likely than average to excel in the sciences. (Although it can safely be said that having religious parents tends to result in better outcomes on a wide variety of other measures. See, for example, this book. [amazon.com]) But here's the thing: I am willing to bet that you don't know, either, and that you're talking out of your ass. Put down the Richard Dawkins and try to meet some scientifically-literate Christians, maybe at a church in a university town, or something.
Re:Haven't you forgotten something important here? (Score:4, Interesting)
I haven't forgotten anything.
Here, let me help you.
My brother is extremely dyslexic. Has problems writing his own name. He is quite capable of comprehending complex chemical processes, and has helped me in some personal hobby chemistry more than once, and found it very rewarding.
If the student has an impairment, then the teacher/mentor needs to help that student a little more. That's all it means. It was my understanding from the submitter that the child is not mentally handicapped, merely behind the curve. This is easily correctable with some added effort.
If remedial mathematics and reading comprehension are required, administer accordingly. Don't abandon the student because they fail to meet your expectations.
My brother is by no means a dullard. Can't read or write to save his life, but the core concepts of chemistry are his, and I know that for a fact. Literacy is a gateway to knowledge, most assuredly. It, however, is not the exclusive gateway to knowledge. If you treat it like it is, you aren't a good teacher.
Re:Why isn't he in school? (Score:5, Interesting)
"Clever parent" -- from current (limited) evidence, that's probably not the case here.
1. The grandparent is reasonably intelligent. The question is clear and concise; he's been in the computer industry and coding for decades (according to his web site [whisperingwind.co.uk]).
2. The kid is below-average in reading and hasn't had much science by age 10--probably not a great job of homeschooling.
3. The grandparent is asking the question, not the parents--the parents aren't doing a good enough job and the grandparent felt the need to step in. Most likely the parents aren't smart enough to do it well.
4. The grandparent probably knows he wont change the parents' minds about homeschooling so is trying to make the best of things by giving his grandson a decent chemistry education.
(There are alternate explanations--eg. parents too busy, grandparent bored and finding something to fill his time--but (2) is pretty damning.)
Re:Thought so. (Score:5, Interesting)
Virtually all of the home-schooled kids I know are at least as well educated as their public school counterparts. I know one that finished Calc II while still at home, and he plays the French horn beautifully well. (I haven't heard what college degree he graduated with, but I'd be shocked if he didn't ace it.) But this same kid believes that dinosaurs never existed. He can go forth in this world and will no doubt succeed in any field he chooses. He'd make a fine engineer, or lawyer, or mathematician. He'll probably go on to be a deacon in his church some day. But I also can pretty much guarantee you he won't choose a career in paleontology. And I don't think he'll be teaching biology, geology, or astronomy if he thinks god created the universe 6,000 years ago, because those professions simply wouldn't fit with his worldview. I'm good with that.
While having a religious upbringing may sound like it correlates to success, I'd postulate that the primary reason the kids you and I know who are succeeding is because their parents have cared greatly about their children's success for their entire lives. And I consider home schooling to be prima facie evidence of parents who care. Parents who use the schools as babysitters, as surrogate parents, as the disciplinarians, or to provide their moral compasses, those who abdicate their own responsibilities for raising their children, they're far more likely to have the kids that don't reach their potential. And that comprises a depressingly large percentage of kids.
Re:i have an idea (Score:5, Interesting)
If you break the educational results down by state, you will see that yes, yes there are. As long as you don't make the mistake of living outside one of the civilized zones, you can actually see results pretty similar to the wealthy bits of Europe and even parts of Asia. Certain other states, by consistently achieving results that make you wonder if they are actually telecommuting from some hellish African warzone, really drag us down...
In my experience this disparity is spot-on and frighteningly so. I was educated in a cow pasture of a public high school where about a quarter of my graduating class was already at boot camp by graduation and art, music, and science funding were cut before even considering touching football or wrestling. Years later, as a graduate student in Los Angeles, I was involved in various mentoring programs for high school students and teachers. The students from public schools in Santa Monica and the Palisades (i.e., very wealthy areas) were just polishing their resumes before starting at Stanford or Harvard in the Fall. Most of their teachers had PhDs. The teachers that we mentored came instead from the other parts of LA Unified where graduation rates were below 50% and schools spent money on metal detectors and fences. We even had to supply them with the teaching materials for the workshops because it would otherwise have come from their own pockets. Their students' ambitions included staying out of jail and learning to read. And that was just the difference in one county.