WEBVTT

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CATHERINE DRENNAN: I really want
the students to feel actively

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participating in lectures.

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And so the clicker's
definitely help.

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I try to space them every five
to seven minutes that there's

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a clicker question.

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And I know from teaching
this a number of times

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now that some of the
clicker questions,

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they will-- pretty much all
the students will get right.

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And they'll be all
happy and feel good.

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And then there are other
ones that I ask on purpose

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because I know that these are
questions that the students can

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really hang up on on exams.

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They're tricky things.

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And so I want them
to make the mistake

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when it doesn't count
in the clicker questions

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so they get it
right on the exam.

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And so one thing
that I will do, I'll

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often try to get them
to tell-- if they

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got it right, explain why.

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So that's one
thing I like to do.

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And I go around to different
conferences and things

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and often will pick up free
pens, or free whatever, rulers,

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all sorts of stuff
that people give out.

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And so then I say, if
someone-- you know,

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and they see that
they've gotten it right.

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So that makes them feel a little
more confident before they

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speak in front of 350 people.

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And said, OK, I have this
awesome little periodic table

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ruler thing.

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Who can tell me
what the answer is?

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And so then I have a TA go
around with a microphone,

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and that they say how they
thought about the problem, what

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the answer is.

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And so just kind of
encourage people to talk.

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--ask people to
explain, now that they

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know what the right answer
is, if someone will explain

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why that is the right answer.

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And I know it's a big
class and people sometimes

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get nervous about talking,
so I bribe people.

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So today the person who
answers why that is correct

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will get at an MIT
chemistry t-shirt.

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AUDIENCE: All right.

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Let's see.

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For every-- if you're
using 5 moles of N2,

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you need 15 moles
of hydrogen gas.

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So since there's not
enough hydrogen gas,

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there's only 10 moles, that
means the hydrogen gas should

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be the limiting reactant since
you would need roughly 3.33

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moles of N2 for it.

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CATHERINE DRENNAN: Great.

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And here is an MIT
chemistry t-shirt.

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Other times, if the
clicker question,

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you know, it's like
50/50 in the answer,

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then I won't tell
them what's right

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and ask them to talk to their
neighbor and vote again.

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And sometimes I'll also have
them talk to each other,

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and then weigh in on something.

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And whenever we're
going to do a demo,

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I want them to think
about what might happen

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and what the possibilities
are, things like that.

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And sometimes that will be a
clicker question ahead of time.

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And then they're really
ready and engaged

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when they see the demo of what
the answer is going to be.

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So those are some of the
things that I can do.

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Another one of the
fun things that I

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like when I'm talking
about the difference

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between thermodynamics
and kinetics,

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we can talk about how a reaction
might be thermodynamically

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favorable, and so, you
know, combustion of sugar--

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thermodynamically favorable.

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So I'll bring in some candy.

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And we do like a demo in class,
and everyone has a candy.

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And it's like OK, when
you open it up to oxygen,

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there should be CO2 released.

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And so then we do the demo
and see that it's actually

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a slow reaction.

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So we don't see the gas release.

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But, you know, ways where
everyone in the class

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can have something that
they do a demo with, even

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if it's a little bit silly.

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Still there is that engagement
then with the material.