Who says Reedies are all study and no fun?
Halloween was celebrated up and down Eliot Hall yesterday. Nearly everyone in class found their way over to the President’s Office to grab treats (mostly cookies, but also yummy hot cider, and more). And, 6 or 7 Chem 201 students showed up for the morning class already decked out in costumes. I coaxed Victoria “League of Her Own” Miller and Ana “Link” Jed into taking a picture with me. Thank you for playing along.
I heard this story on NPR’s Morning Edition (6 Sept 2019) and I knew I had to share it with my students. You can read listen to the story (2:52) or read a full transcript at The Distracting Draw of SmartPhones.
But let me cut straight to the surprising content, this story is not about using a smartphone instead of doing something else, it is about being near your phone while doing something else. The reporter, Shankar Vedantam, describes work done by a team of Harvard psychologists (their names are in the transcript – look them up):
Vedantam: They had volunteers come in to take cognitive tests, but there was a catch. Some volunteers were told to leave their smartphones in another room. Some were told to leave the phones in a bag or a pocket. And others were told to leave their phones on the desk next to them as they took the test. Now, all the phones were on silent. But big differences emerged between the volunteers as they took the test, especially when it came to understanding and solving novel problems.
And then one of the psychologists (Ward) delivers the punchline:
Ward: What we found is that people did better on these tasks the farther their phones were from them. So those who had their phones in another room did significantly better than those who had their phones on the desk right in front of them. And then those who had their phones in their pockets or their bags were sort of in the middle, between those two groups.
Several students have asked me in the last few years, “What can I do this summer to get ready for Chem 201 next fall?”
A perfectly reasonable question, and one that deserves an instructive response. But I hesitate to answer. Why? (more…)
A new article in Science magazine from Prof. Ayanna Thomas’ research group is one that every O Chem student should look at. The article doesn’t contain any chemistry, but it contains some potentially valuable insights into becoming a more successful O Chem student.
Some of you may be suffering from FMOOWMP. You know the symptoms, but you probably didn’t know that help was close at hand. And it’s painless. Here’s a short video to bring you up-to-speed. https://youtu.be/yQq1-_ujXrM
I heard a presentation from a neuroscientist last week on how our brains work. She highlighted different brain networks that one can imagine working well in some situations (“keep an eye out for tigers and snakes”), but get corrupted into un-, even counter-productive activities in modern circumstances (“keep an eye out for tweets”). We all have these networks and we all live in a world filled with more, and more round-the-clock, stimuli than our ancestors could have ever imagined. Staying on task gets more challenging all the time. Here’s an article from the NY Times Education section that might offer some helpful insights and tips: How to Deal with Digital Distractions (Times, 1 Nov 2016).
You can also test your ability to resist distractions right now: try not clicking on this post from 2013, Like Ketchup on Sushi, that takes you to another Times article, How to Get an A- in Organic Chemistry.
What single thing must you do to learn organic chemistry? Sam and I have given you the answer several times: practice solving problems. But is that all you have to do? Can you just open the book to a problem, work on it, and learn organic chemistry? Maybe you can, maybe you can’t. Not all practice makes perfect.
Computers – source of endless entertainment or endless drudgery? A little of both, right.
Why not turn your computer into a mood enhancer by making some music with the Tonematrix audio tool. 2 minutes will put you in another world. And who knows? When you come back to our world, you might be just a little more able to dip into organic chemistry. Or become the next Philip Glass.
This post has nothing to do with o chem, but you have a long weekend ahead of you and I don’t want you miss something really special: the swarming and roosting of 5000+ small Vaux swifts in the Chapman School chimney in NW Portland. This is one of the best FREE displays of urban wildlife you will ever see (and you don’t need binoculars).
Fortunately, the timing and location are perfect for Reed students. Head towards the Chapman Elementary school in NW Portland (#15 Bus will get you very close) on any night in early-mid September. Arrive about 30-60 minutes before sunset (7:00-7:30 arrival during Labor Day weekend) if you are just going to see the birds. Arrive a little earlier if you plan to bring a picnic, a ball or frisbee, and hang out in the park next to the school. The birds put on their show according to a timing that only they know so don’t be late (Wed, Sept 2, they were all settled in the chimney by 8:10. Thurs they were finished 10 minutes earlier.) The warm late-summer evenings are perfect for an outdoors off-campus adventure.
This event is not to be missed
Learn more at Swift Watch – Portland Audubon
I have (and will) post some extra “challenge” problems from time to time. Let me explain their purpose so that you can work these problems into your schedule in an appropriate way.