My Teaching
January 2008
I have been involved in demonstrating organic chemistry to first year undergraduate students. This comprised of helping the students complete the laboratory side of their course by offering help and advice and showing techniques that they may not have been exposed to previously.
The skills that I developed due to this experience were how to give clear explanations and engage the students in their work. An unexpected skill that was gained was how to give clear and positive feedback on work that had been handed in and in the practical sessions. I was unaware of the importance previously.
As a way to improve upon my teaching skills I am completing the Post Graduate Award: Introduction to Academic and Professional Practice
June 2008
I have recently been involved in a schools outreach program that is run by the Chemistry department at the University of Warwick. This involved working with bright students from year 9, who were just passed their SATs. It offered a good opportunity to show the students what university labs are like and the techniques that are used at university level. I found this day very rewarding as all of the students were so eager to learn.
October 2008
I spent a day helping to teach students embarking on a science masters degree, some having never studied science previously in their undergraduate studies. The students were being taught how to use different types of pipettes accurately as the practical part of the day. I also gave a talk to the students on how to keep an effective lab book. To enable them to keep notes on the work they do to a level where they or someone else were able to repeat their experiments.
October-November 2008
I have been involved in demonstrating the introductory laboratory course for the first year undergraduate students. Again this involved helping the students learn basic lab skills that they will need throughout their course (and possibly career), that they had not used previously.
I was able to use the experience gained from teaching the previous first year undergraduates to improve my demonstrating techniques. However it is still a learning process.
March 2009
I have again been involved in the schools outreach program that is run by the Chemistry department at the University of Warwick. This involved working with bright students of age 15. It offered a good opportunity to show the students what university labs are like and the techniques that are used at university level.
We spent the day making Aspirin in an undergraduate lab (which was a new experience for the students) and allowed the students to see all areas of the department and to explore the science of the experiments to the limits of their imagination.
June 2009
A group of A-level chemistry students came to visit the University of Warwick with some of the samples they had made whilst at school. Using the samples they had made we taught them how to analyse the samples using a range of spectroscopy techniques as well as gel electrophoresis. This gave the students an opportunity to see what a real research lab is like as well as learning about techniques they would have little opportunity to see ordinarily. My role in the day was to teach the students how to do gel electrophoresis.
September 2009
I was asked again to be involved in the schools outreach program that is run by the Chemistry department at the University of Warwick. A group of upper sixth students who are all studying chemistry at A-level came to visit the university. It gave the students the chance to see what a university chemistry department feels like and give them an idea over whether chemistry is an area of science they would like to pursue to a further stage.
The students enjoyed the day and it helped that they had an understanding of the subject so they could be treated similar to how undergrads are treated. The students were bright and understood all of the concepts to the hydrolysis experiment they were doing.
October 2009
I spent a day helping to teach students embarking on a science masters degree, some having never studied science previously in their undergraduate studies. The students were being taught how to use different types of pipettes accurately as the practical part of the day.
October 2010
For the third year in a row I have been asked to teach the new masters students basic laboratory skills. Three different sessions took place to students who had varying levels of lab experience. I took on a bigger role for this session than in previous years as I led the class explaining what we expected and how to use the equipment accurately. The aim of the session was for the students to pipette water using both glass and micro pipettes with an aim to get within a 1% accuracy.