Hey guys!
I wanted to start a thread to discuss what types of classes y’all would be interested in taking. The broadening of the Bio Committee to the Science Committee gives us a lot of wiggle room!
I would love to teach some basic classes on microbiology and psychology. Please let me know what interests you and hopefully we will be able to discuss this further at the potluck this weekend!
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I’m thinking about teaching a few cosmetic chemistry classes - maybe fragrance powders or massage candles…
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I want to build telescopes :d The most difficult/expensive part seems to be the objective lens/mirror. Anyone know how to create parabolic mirrors?
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I’d like a basic hydroponics class.
In my misspent youth I once tried and never finished to grind my own telescope mirror from blanks made from two pyrex pie plates… In that distant past you couldn’t buy kits or even mirror blanks readily. And the only instructions I had available were old back issues of the Amateur Scientist column that used to grace the pages of Scientific American.
Now, you have a vast amount of information and supplies readily available.
Make Magazine-Hand grinding a telescope mirrir
Amateur Telescope Making
Mirror Grinding
Now, the availability of information and supplies doesn’t reduce the tedium and skill needed to grind a good parabolic mirror. Don’t expect your first mirror to be particularly good! If you do follow through, I for one would love to see the product of your labors!
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I have a gallileo telescope kit I got from fry’s a long time ago still in box. If I dust off the cobwebs we could use that possibly. Do we have a clear enough night sky to see anything from Carrollton?
I would be interested in microbiology, cosmetic chemistry, aqua/aero/hydro-ponics, and astronomy. All of the above and probably more.
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I would like to see us apply for STEM kits, I would like to see astronomy, meteorology.
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I could possibly teach a class on gardening. Vegetable or fruit. No ornamentals.
I grew up on a dairy farm and we only grew what we could eat.
I am a Master Gardener, but that is only actually an honorarium of taking 12 weeks of classes.
It is so easy to grow stuff. Just stick it in the ground. I could also show folks how to plant throughout the year to have a yield of some type of edible plants.
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Ashley,
I would love to teach some basic classes on microbiology and psychology.
Classes on both would be greatly welcomed!
I have a background in psychology and just finished an Advanced Microbiology course this past semester, but I can’t get enough as I am currently reading some great books on antibiotic resistance and bacteriophages.
I would really like to get further into electrophoresis and PCR.
I’m thinking about teaching a few cosmetic chemistry classes - maybe fragrance powders or massage candles…
That sounds good too, Heather. Thames and Kosmos has some kits out on that and I have one on Perfume Science:
The only downside is that the mixtures are fairly synthetic as opposed to essential oils. There are supposed to be websites out there that can instruct you in making scents that are fairly close to expensive designer perfumes.
Also, an ex-girlfriend (PhD candidate in Chemistry) and I bonded over a website that gave instructions on how to replicate foods and beverages no longer in production. I LOVED Coca-Cola BlāK when it was out and was highly displeased when they pulled it off the market in 2008. She showed me the recipe and damned if it didn’t taste just like the stuff I used to scarf down in CVS.
The way to a man’s heart is truly through OCHEM.
I have a gallileo telescope kit I got from fry’s a long time ago still in box. If I dust off the cobwebs we could use that possibly. Do we have a clear enough night sky to see anything from Carrollton?
Downtown Dallas?
JAG “Voted Most Likely to Die a Virgin - Class of 1548 B.C.” MAN
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I’d be more than willing to bring in some essential oils, and particularly for dusting powders, some of the ingredients are so easy! (baking soda, tapioca starch, etc.) All the fragrances I have are pretty gender neutral too! (Tea-tree, rosemary, etc.)
The Brewers have a beer clone recipes book in the lab area that is GREAT.
I want a class on basic Physics and Chemistry. Like high school refresher classes. I probably could take a community college class on this but I wouldn’t want to commit to that. I would really like practical physics experiments like calculating projectile trajectories, and practical chemistry like stoichiometric ratios. I also would like a class on just general “The scientific method” like how to do experimentation and documentation correctly.
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Its funny you say that you just took an advanced micro class! I am taking one as well in the fall. ^.^ I’m majoring in biology at UTD and am starting classes in the fall. I want to teach more advanced classes as I learn more, but during the summer I figured we could teach some basic classes. My favorite subjects are microbiology, psychology, and anatomy, so I’m hoping to teach some classes geared towards those.
WE SHOULD DO A BASIC CHEMISTRY CLASS.
I swear if it weren’t for the makerspace, I wouldn’t have made it through those classes.
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I’ve always done well in Mechanics (the first half of the first semester of University Physics). It’s very linear, straightforward stuff, pretty much addition and subtraction of vectors. That’s probably why it’s one of the first things taught in a standard college or university Physics class. I’m fortunate also that the calculus-based Physics classes that I’ve taken have required very little calculus; it turns out that undergraduate Physics equations reduce to simple algebraic equations almost immediately. The real world is not always so nice. I would not have a problem teaching Mechanics, and maybe a few other Physics topics. Of course, I already teach a little bit of Optics in my Laser classes.
It’s been a really long time since I did any Chemistry. I liked it, I made an “A” in it, but that was twenty-plus years ago. It would be fun to pull something together, though.
@kniveschau That would be great! I took a semester of Biology with Honors Biology Lab at Collin College a few years ago, and had a blast! I think that a lot of people would be interested in the various energy cycles (cellular respiration and photosynthesis, the ATP synthase machine, etc).
@Opcode I am dreading Physics, so I would totally attend a class. For my first semester at a university I’m taking Organic Chemistry and some electives, but next year I will be taking Physics and some calculus courses.
Does the Science Committee have a general meeting? We should set up a time to meet up and we can bounce these ideas around in person. ^.^" For the time being My schedule is pretty much open Monday thru Thursday in the evening. What is a good time for everyone else?
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In my experience most science majors seemed to dread Organic Chem before Physics. In my day O Chem was the class they used to filter out the dross… I am really surprised that O Chem doesn’t have other prerequisites at your University!
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Chem 1411 and 1412 are prereqs for Organic Chemistry! and math…some kind of basic math and then you can take Ochem…lol. I’m still dreading it though. ;_;
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And I just reread your message…This is my first semester at UT Dallas. I’m transferring from community college, which feels a lot like the 13th grade lol.
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Ashley,
I am a UTD alumni and that is where I took a year of OCHEM for my Nanoscience Minor. I strongly recommend Dr. Sergio Cortes as he is really knowledgeable, funny, easy going and reasonable. A passing grade in there is a 56 when I went - it is still not terribly easy (the synthesis reactions in particular gave me fits) and it was the only class in my Minor that I made less than an A in. (B+ for OCHEM I and an A- in OCHEM II) But I LOVED the labs - very easy and fun. (compared to to Electrical Engineering labs at UTD which are notoriously harsh)
Also, get an OCHEM model kit to follow along with structural conformations of molecules and an OCHEM stencil template (can get them on Amazon) so that you can draw benzene, aromatic hydrocarbons and chair/boat conformations, etc. quickly.
And I will be up there this fall taking Biomaterials & Medical Devices.
Its funny you say that you just took an advanced micro class! I am taking one as well in the fall. ^.^ I’m majoring in biology at UTD and am starting classes in the fall. I want to teach more advanced classes as I learn more, but during the summer I figured we could teach some
basic classes. My favorite subjects are microbiology, psychology, and anatomy, so I’m hoping to teach some classes geared towards those.
I also took Engineering Physiology of the Human Body this past spring which is kind of like A&P “Lite” with some emphasis on biotech/bioengineering. Psychology was one of my favorites when I was at DCCCD and Dr. Stephen Link was teaching - those courses were my “gateway drug” to the writings of Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell and Robert Bly. My copy of “The Power of Myth” is signed by Bill Moyers as I ran into him years ago on my birthday at what was then the flagship Barnes and Nobles bookstore.
For psychology, a good start might be either dealing with practical issues of things like identifying POSSIBLE disorders and pathologies (without falling into the trap of analyzing and labeling people) and dispelling common myths about psychology. People are forever mistaking schizophrenia (difficultly in distinguishing reality from fantasy) with having multiple personalities (now classified as Dissociative Identity Disorder) which drives me nuts.
How ironic…
@Opcode I just took the Biology I for Science Majors last fall from Dr. Bell at Richland and also enjoyed the hell out of that. Our understanding of how things work in that field has really improved over recent years (though much is still not known) and I also found the chemical pathways for glycolysis, Krebs/Calvin cycles and the operation of the ATP synthase motor fascinating. Particularly the latter, as that F-ATPase biomachines are the most thermodynamically efficient machines in nature, being 99.8%+ efficient (which borders on supernatural) and strongly resemble an electric motor. (stator, rotor, etc.)
http://nature.berkeley.edu/~goster/pdfs/efficiency.pdf
BTW, having OCHEM before taking Biology and Microbiology really helped a lot. I have found it one of the most useful electives for science majors as you can do everything from reading food labels to certain high level science papers with greater comprehension. It is nice being able to understand a chemical structural diagram at a glance.
JAG “Runs on Ethanol, 1,3,7-Trimethylpurine-2,6-Dione and Proton Motive Force” MAN
P.S. I have the solutions manual for the Wade book as well
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