Two of my favorite on-line sites are posted by Bill Simmons, aka the Sports Guy, on espn.com and Club Trillion by Mark “The Shark” Titus. These two blogs are written in a laid back manner and for someone like me are very enjoyable to read. I hope to capture the same effect with this blog. It would be fantastic to start something like Bill Simmons does with the mailbag and answer chemistry questions that are pertinent to the course and how they relate to our everyday lives. I will try to make them as enjoyable as possible and if students send me questions I can try to post a mail bag similar to this one every Friday afternoon. I hope we can have fun with this and am anxious to see how this will develop.
Posted below are the comments from the initial course survey. Enjoy and GO BUCKS!
Dr. Fus
The votes are in. Here are the results from the class surveys…
Favorite TV Show
- House
- The Office
- Grey’s Anatomy
- Lost
- Desperate Housewives
- Family Guy
- The Simpsons
- Scrubs
- Heroes
- Friends
I am very disappointed that Seinfeld, Two and a Half Men, How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, Chapelle Show, Pardon the Interruption, Baseball Tonight, and SportsCenter did not make the list.
Favorite Movies (Note: These were very diverse and all over the place)
- Billy Madison
- Happy Gilmore
- Super Bad
- Old School
- Wedding Crashers
There were many others receiving one vote. Some of the ones I enjoy are Braveheart, Dumb & Dumber, Good Will Hunting, Ace Ventura, Patch Adams, and Ferris Beuller’s Day Off.
Favorite Songs: To be played before class.
Now, on to the student comments…
I am terrified of labs this quarter. They are going to be very stressful so any help with that would be great.
--Medical Dietetics, Sophomore
I’m not so sure why students are so “terrified” about labs? In 121 in the fall I had students who are definitely afraid to light a Bunsen burner. I mean it’s a freakin Bunsen burner. Just light it. You can definitely tell the students who smoke cigarettes. They pull out a lighter out of their pocket and just light the thing. My best word of advice is to just relax and go with the flow. I even had a student who got so worked up they started to cry. I wanted to turn into Tom Hanks at that point. There’s no crying in chemistry lab! If you are all up tight and nervous (or terrified) lab is not going to go very well. Take a deep breath, don’t worry, and things will go fine. The worst thing that can happen is that you will have to redo the lab and there will be plenty of time for you to make things up throughout the quarter. So don’t get too stressed if you fall behind and if you do come talk to me and we can come up with a plan to get you caught up. Really labs aren’t worth stressing yourself out to the point that you might want to faint.
Exams → what is covered in lecture, lot of previous exams in 121/122 pulled out random information.
-- Bio/Pre-med, Sophomore
In 122, myself, along with other that I know of felt the exams were extremely unfair and did not cover material that was ever covered in lecture. I am hoping the homework/lectures will fairly reflect what will be on the exams.
--Molecular Genetics, Freshman
I feel like when we chem students take an exam, we’re hit with a subject matter at a much higher level than given in lecture. I’d love if we could get to that level before the test!
-- Food Science & Spanish, Freshman
The key to success in this class is to complete and more importantly UNDERSTAND the homework sets. All the homework sets are taken from old exams given here at
Avoid “Brainteasers” on exams. I heard those aren’t very fun!
-- Chemical Engineering, Sophomore
Remember you are privileged enough to be a student at The Ohio State University. There is a certain standard of excellence we have to uphold in this department and it is very difficult to get an A. There will not be much of a curve in this class either and you will have to work extremely hard to get a good grade. “Brainteaser” questions are written to identify the truly outstanding students in the class.
Screaming into the microphone
-- Biology, Sophomore
Avoid yelling the material at students through the microphone.
-- Microbiology, Freshman
Please don’t yell into the microphone
-- Microbiology, Sophomore
Ummm, I’m not sure where this came from, but I will try not to yell into the microphone. If I do happen to scream, it will be reminiscent of this.
As long as you don’t speak to me as a child, we’ll get along
-- Psychology, Freshman
I try to treat everyone in this class like an adult. But be careful what you wish for because being treated like an adult means you have to assume the responsibility of an adult. I fully expect you to attend EVERY lecture and laboratory session. I expect you to do every homework problem and read the book. Remember you are in college and the ultimate goal is to become a better chemist, a better student, and a better person. I will do everything to work for you, but I do not have a magic wand to waive over you to make you learn the material. I will work my ass off and I expect you to do the same. Not just in this class, but every class you are taking this quarter. Be sure to have fun. You are in college, but remember the ultimate reason you are here is to get excellent grades.
I thought the quizzes weren’t representative of exam questions. Many questions on the exams tested our ability to type numbers into a calculator instead of our knowledge of chemistry.
-- Environmental Science, Junior
Oh trust me, I love asking concept based questions. The “brainteasers” will definitely test your chemistry knowledge and will rarely use calculations. It also depends on the material. For example the solubility unit will be much more calculation based than the others this quarter.
I really like the worked out solutions for the homework like Dr. Zelmer does.
-- Pharmacy, Sophomore
Be enthusiastic, teach the material in an organized, helpful way. Be available in office hours. I hated how the solutions were posted online but were illegible.
--Zoology, Freshman
Although I was very hesitant, I posted the worked out solutions to the homework problems on carmen. They are typed so hopefully you will be able to read them. PLEASE work them out on your own first and then take a look at the solutions. It will be much more beneficial for you. If you ever have any questions please do not hesitate to ask or send me an e-mail.
Use analogies and anyway to relate what we are doing to the real world values and uses.
--Medical Technology, Sophomore
Try to make the material “come alive.” And by that I mean use material with real life applications/situations. Analogies also help.
--Biomedical Engineering, Junior
Don’t lecture isolated facts of just read through power points. Connect to life somehow\explain in a variety of ways.
--Biology, Sophomore
I hope to learn the concepts in depth and not just for the exam. I look forward to the class!
--Biomedical Science, Freshman
In my mind chemistry follows a logical pattern. At first it is really tough to see how that pattern relates in the grand scheme of things, but as a teacher my ultimate goal is for me to point out that logical pattern to you and for you to LEARN the material rather than memorize it or reproduce it. I’ll try to add in little quirky Dr. Fusisms and make you laugh at least once in class. Puff Daddy claims its all about the Benjamins, but if Diddy were to write a song about solubility it would be all about the equilibrium expression. If you ever see a movie or song or some kind of analogy or youtube video that I could include in this class or in this blog please let me know and I will incorporate it into the course.
Keep us interested! Reviews before exams are great and I always found them helpful.
--Chemistry, Freshman
I always hold my own review sessions before the exams. All I do is show up and take your questions. I have nothing prepared so it is imperative to come prepared. Since the exams are held on Monday’s this quarter plan for the review session to be held on the Friday evenings before the exam.
I’ve heard good things about you and I’m hoping that you won’t try to scare us into working hard for this course like 122 because it just shot my confidence instead of pushing me.
--Psychology, Freshman
I would rather motivate you into working hard and studying rather than scare you. The exams will be challenging though.
I felt that my Chem 122 professor was setting us up for failure. It was like they enjoyed knowing that we didn’t know the material they did and they were the professor!!
--Biology, Freshman
I’m not sure how to respond to this one. Failure is a lesson that needs to be taught to students and it is something that few of you have experienced through high school. Lebron James was on 60 minutes the other week and he talked about failure. “No. You can’t be afraid to fail,” James told 60 minutes. “It’s the only way you succeed - you’re not going to succeed all the time, and I know that. You have to be able to accept failure to get better.”
I don’t think there should be MCAT questions that we’ve never discussed on the exams.
--Biology, Freshman
Well, I will not teach towards the MCAT, but like I did today in class if there is a common question that is typically seen on the MCAT I will definitely point it out to everyone. And judging by the surveys, over half the class plans on taking the MCAT, so it will be useful for those students to point things out.
I hope you will teach at a good pace that works for most people and realize when there are subjects that the majority of people are having trouble with. Hopefully exams will not be completely unexpected and hard.
--Neuroscience/French, Freshman
This is my third time teaching Chem 123 so I have had the opportunity to see which concepts students struggle with and hopefully I can improve on my teaching methods. I am always up for suggestions and criticisms. Please let me know if you think I can do anything better or be more effective.
I really appreciated your lecture methods in 121; by taking the time to write your notes on the board and explain them, it was easier for me to understand the material.
--Zoology, Freshman
You can thank my favorite undergraduate professor Dr. Rajaseelan for the way I teach. I can still hear him talking up in front of the class as I wrote down my notes. I hope I can have the same impact on you as he did on me. In my opinion chalk talk is the best way to learn, but I am also open to any suggestions that you might have to improve my performance.
Keep playing music before class
--Zoology, Freshman
Not a problem at all! Can’t wait to play these songs!
Just be into teaching ;)
-- Biochemistry, Sophomore
I try to have as much fun as I can in lecture and in the labs. I really enjoy teaching and hopefully it will show this quarter. If all goes well, class will be just as rockin as this party!
Hopefully the comments will start rolling in from everyone. Send me an e-mail titled Friday Mail Bag and list your major and hometown and I will post the top questions/comments of the week. I hope you are enjoying your first week back from break, Dr. Fus
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