Another fabulous day surrounded by chemistry teachers from high schools, 2 year colleges, and universities from all around North America! This morning I attended a workshop which presented 4 Target Inquiry (TI) activities. Though I am a TI graduate, there are many activities I have never seen before. It was great to see these other guided inquiry particulate activities and to see teachers explore them. I was behind some teachers in the hall during a break and overheard them discussing how excellent these TI activities are and how they have started using them in their classroom and look forward to using more of them in the future.
During lunch I met several other instructors from 2 year colleges. How exciting for me to be able to network with this group! I am still new to the 2 year college scene and am glad to be meeting people from across the USA who are more experienced in this post-high school world. I received some excellent suggestions for how to incorporate TI activities into my lab classes instead of the traditional lab book we are currently required to use and how to discuss using these ideas with my department chair.
This afternoon I listened to more TI activity presentations in a symposium. I am excited to try one on physical and chemical changes my first day of class in a few weeks! This BCCE is encouraging excitement for fall semester!