For the Science Geeks.

I totally fell in love with this when I was watching it. When I was in highschool, I took a dual enrollment Chemistry class at the local community college and TA'd/graded papers for my highschool chemistry teacher. You have no idea how many people would get the elements wrong.. even though he left the periodic table up during his tests!

I would be one of those people who got them wrong.

Julsiebean wrote:

I would be one of those people who got them wrong.

LOL. He literally left a GIANT periodic table hanging in front of the classroom. No matter where you were in the room, you could clearly see the elements and all pertinent information. He even reminded people it was up there!

I always got 'em right.

I always did really good in the sciences. I found it too repetitive though. I was just memorizing, I didn't feel any sense of accomplishment.

That's why I like the social sciences and the arts. It makes me actually think about things.

zazanomore wrote:

I always did really good in the sciences. I found it too repetitive though. I was just memorizing, I didn't feel any sense of accomplishment.

I can't say I've ever felt that way about a subject. The only subjects I got really bored during was AP Physics, which I ended up dropping because I didn't like the teacher and didn't like the subject, and our integrated math program. My highschool didn't teach each math subject separately, but did IAGS --- integrated Algebra, Geometry and Statistics. It made it much, much harder to learn any one concept.

I was good at it, but it was more than 20 years ago

Margaret wrote:

I was good at it, but it was more than 20 years ago

LOL. 5 years as of 6/6 for me! I graduated 6/6/06.. and I was 13th in my class to graduate.

KayLayUh wrote:

and I was 13th in my class to graduate.

Stupid question, what does that mean

zazanomore wrote:

KayLayUh wrote:

and I was 13th in my class to graduate.

Stupid question, what does that mean

We graduate according to GPA or class rank here. The higher your GPA, the higher your graduate number. I was 13th of 535.

That's how many people we had in our high school...but good job.

zazanomore wrote:

That's how many people we had in our high school...but good job.

That was it in your entire school? Wow. My class started with 590, but we had a lot of drop outs. The whole school total had just over 2,000 students.

Small town catholic high school (here, catholic schools are publicly funded).

You basically know EVERYONE in the school.

Going to University is going to be a real culture shock, even though the school I'm going to is still considered "small".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYW50F42ss8
I love Tom Lehrer. That song is the only reason I remember as many elements as I do. For me, it's like the alphabet. I "sing" it in my head whenever I'm trying to think of an element.

Yay, Tom Leherer lives on! Loved his stuff when I was in college.

Zaza, I think if you were left feeling hard sciences are all memorization your teachers should be flogged. The whole point of science as a human activity is the systematic application of thought and observation in order to ascertain truth. At least at the (post survey course) college level and above, most of my science exams (taken or administered) were open book and you could bring any cheat sheet of formulae and constants you wanted to a test -- it was how you reasoned through a problem that got the grades, even if you got the answer wrong. The role of memorization was limited. In biology, I think you do get more rote memory, because there is a sort of vocabulary you have to build up. If your surgeon had to look up the names of the body parts during an operation things wouldn't work out so well. But physics, chemistry, astronomy, it's understanding the basic way the world works, not remembering what to call it that matters. MHO, but its a subject I can get quite soapboxy about.

I'll have to watch the rap when I get home, I liked what little I saw.

I love Physics and Chemistry.

ScooterNScotty wrote:

Yay, Tom Leherer lives on! Loved his stuff when I was in college. (...)

Yeah! Love him! High-five! Or... Whatever the online equivalent is!

evil chicken wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYW50F42ss8
I love Tom Lehrer. That song is the only reason I remember as many elements as I do. For me, it's like the alphabet. I "sing" it in my head whenever I'm trying to think of an element.

Hey, I know that song!!! I thought that was only for crazy homeschooled kids! Oh.. wait...

LyzGrace wrote:

evil chicken wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYW50F42ss8
I love Tom Lehrer. That song is the only reason I remember as many elements as I do. For me, it's like the alphabet. I "sing" it in my head whenever I'm trying to think of an element.

Hey, I know that song!!! I thought that was only for crazy homeschooled kids! Oh.. wait...

Hooray for crazy, nerdy homeschooled kids!

KayLayUh wrote:

That was it in your entire school? Wow. My class started with 590, but we had a lot of drop outs. The whole school total had just over 2,000 students.

LOL - My class had somewhere around 1600-1800. I don't remember exactly how many people I graduated with. I tried to find it online just now but couldn't.