About the Placement
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| The ARC, where Mario and I lecture in |
About the Community
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| Our students! |
About the Supervisors
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| Dr. Lana Mikhalichenko |
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| Prof. Wanda Restivo |
Prof. Wanda Restivo (B.Sc., Toronto) is a senior lecturer at UTSC, and is the lecturer and lab coordinator for CHMB42H3, and lab coordinator for CHMC31YH3.
About the Group
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| Mario, and Me! |
I am majoring in biochemistry and biology, and I am currently in my last year at UTSC.
Mario Vargas is specializing in biochemistry, and is currently in his 4th year at UTSC.
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| Natalia and Taleen |
Natalia Laciste is majoring in biochemistry and double minors in history and classical studies, and is currently in her 5th and last year at UTSC.
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| The group! |
What I brought to the placement
I first applied to the science engagement course on July 20, 2011, as shown in my placement application form. I applied nice and early because I was really excited to do the lab skills seminar. In the previous semester, I had asked Lana (who is the CHMB42 lecturer and lab co-ordinator) what the placement for CHMB42H was and she had told me about the lab skills seminar. She gave me all the details; that it involved lecturing every week to CHMB42 students and that the lecture topics were the labs that they were going to be doing throughout the semester. I was really excited when she finished giving me the details.
My Student-Placement contract for the Lab Skills Seminar
I had always wanted to try my hand at lecturing for organic chemistry. Ever since second year, when I had to take organic chemistry for the first time in my life, I was enthralled by the course. To learn and master the content, it involved knowing the theory behind all the concepts; none of the silly just memorizing the textbook and recall it on the multiple choice exam. Those types of exams are quite easy for me to study and do, but they're terribly boring and at the end of the day, I feel like I haven't learnt or accomplished anything. But knowing the concepts and theory is half the game. To solve the problems, it also required a great deal of imagination; picturing bond and compound shapes, predicting (and arguing) the movement of electrons and all sorts of things that really stimulated my mind. Since then, I had taken organic chemistry; I took every other organic chemistry course that I am able to take.
I felt that because I am so enthusiastic about
organic chemistry, I hope that maybe I can inspire at least one person to be as
enthusiastic about it as I was. I have always taken great joy in
explaining concepts to my friends when we were taking the course, so I figured,
why not express my enthusiasm for organic chemistry in the form of teaching, in
this case, lecturing to students.
After finally getting accepted into the course 5
months later, I had to fill out the student-placement contract with Lana to put
my duties on paper so we both know what to expect from each other. All of
the information that was filled out was exactly what I thought the placement
was going to be, so right away, everything in my placement was nice and
organized.
In comparison to other placements that the
other science engagement students were at, I consider myself fortunate that my
placement was not ambiguous in anyway ever since the beginning. Some
placements had no activities for the first 1 or 2 months, as evident from the
student presentations and I think that's unfortunate because that limits what
they take away from this course. I personally feel like I got the most
out of this course because there were no bumps in the road for me.
Looking back at the placement contract, I feel like I have fulfilled my
learning objectives and my responsibility to my placement as a lab skills
seminar lecturer.
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