Week 1 Reflection

In chemistry this past week, we had begun to explore many new ideas outside the standard way of thinking. Instead of introducing the class to us like most teachers do, Mr. Abud gave us some challenges and concepts to think about before even reviewing the material that would be covered in the class over the course of the year.

One of the activities that we participated in consisted of everyone's attention to detail and many pieces of paper with writing on them. Each scrap of paper contained a word in a large bold-faced font on it. The goal of this exercise was to match each paper up into groups of 4 pieces that all had something in common with each other. After about 10 minutes of slight chaos and a lot of panic, the room had been divided into 8 groups each claiming that they were their own separate group. The twist was that a great deal of the pieces were able to fit into more than one group which ultimately left the students in control of what group they felt the belonged in. Once each group had been reviewed, they all had the chance to reevaluate their choices in favor of a better fit. After this, the group reached a consensus that each piece was in its proper group and learned that there is not all one straight answer to a problem.

Another activity the class was a part of consisted of a cardboard box covered in paper with the numbers 1-5 written on the 5 visible sides. The task at hand was to determine what was on the hidden side of the box without turning the box over. Students were allowed to examine the box for about 5 minutes before returning to small groups to draw a picture of the box and then write what they think was on the bottom of it. As the minutes passed, there were many mixed thoughts being tossed around. When the class came together, many had different viewpoints ranging from the number 6 being on the bottom to there being no bottom at all. Each group had to give a few reasons about why they came to the conclusion they did. After a majority rules 3-1-1 group vote, the class decided that there was no bottom on the box after all. Once Mr. Abud flipped it over, the students were then proven right.