Author: Cristobal Carambo

Seminar: What is the Earth Made of?

The learning of science is most captivating and compelling when educators can make a connection between the classroom content and their student’s daily lives. Relating a chemical process or abstract concept to a student’s lived experiences makes the learning personal, relevant and more accessible. This is especially necessary in the chemistry classroom where many concepts explore microscopic realities (atoms, protons, electrons, atomic radius, etc.) that are difficult to conceptualize. Although I use many strategies to connect the classroom content to important realities in my student’s lives, few are able to make do so. For the majority of these students, chemistry remains theoretical, foreign and uninteresting.

My students (like most young adults) do however, live in a world dominated by continuously evolving technology that demands a constant investment of attention, time and energy. Most spend all of their free time engaged with electronic devices that are made possible by our advances in materials science, wireless communications, and miniaturized microchip technologies. Few are aware of the powerful impact science and our understanding of minerals has made on their lives.

Focusing on these artifacts and the compounds that make them possible may provide a much needed connection between the chemistry learned in class and the worlds they inhabit.