{Chemistry is} Everything, Everywhere, All at Once

One of the best parts of learning about chemistry was learning how it connects to our world. Well, not just that it connects to our world, but that it IS our world. Everything the has existed, currently exists, and will exist, is chemistry.

I taught chemistry for a few years, and it historically can be a hit or miss course. Some students love it, some hate it, a good amount of them just don’t care. And let’s face it, a lot of those that do care, just care enough to get a good grade (see the connection to ownership of learning here). However, I aimed for my students to gain new perspective on this science that was older than any of us could imagine.

I insisted on making my class a hands on space, pretty radical considering the theoretical nature of chemistry. Students were able to witness a multitude of demonstrations and participate in various experiments so as to try and see the essence of chemistry first hand. For concepts not visible to the human eye, there were visualizations and metaphors, anything to make connections. But perhaps the most valuable lesson I passed on to my students was how chemistry is present in their everyday lives.

Chemistry IS everywhere. From the food you eat to the exercise that transforms that food into energy, chemistry is there. From the pencils you write with to the sky you stare at, chemistry is present. I emphasized that we might not know everything about how the world works or what there is to come, but we do know that chemical properties are essential in the transformation of matter from one thing to another. By understanding chemistry, we gain perspective on the tiny building blocks that make up the skyscrapers in our lives. What a beautiful thing to behold.