Dear Parents:
I have your son/daughter in my Chemistry Physics class. Science is meant to be more than just reading the text and memorizing facts, so there will be plenty of hands on lab activities, demonstrations and problem solving. While these activities are much more engaging than lecture and memorization, they require more participation and initiative. Students will have homework on most days and it is expected that they budget there time accordingly. Homework assignments generally fall into 4 or 5 categories. They include:
1. Provide the student with a distraction free place for study.
2. Understand that the problem solving approach used in Chemistry 1 and Physics 1 is new and difficult for some students. Many students find that Chemistry 1 or Physics 1 is difficult at first and that they will need to work hard to succeed. Encourage them to persist and not to give up.
3. Students who have done well in most of their other classes sometimes have an overly optimistic view of their memory and thus are reluctant to take class notes and certainly wouldn't dream of recopying class notes. You might encourage them along these lines.
4. Recognize that some students need the shock of doing poorly on a test to stimulate them to initiate a new strategy for studying. The disbelief that a new approach is needed sometimes continues until the reality of a poor grade looms large upon the horizon. One shocking test grade should be enough however, so don't be reluctant to let them know what their expectations should be.
5. Do not feel any compulsion to assist the student with their homework. They have plenty of resources in their text, this web site, their class notes, their fellow students, and their teacher. If your patience will allow, it may be helpful if you encourage the student to think a problem out loud to you. Some strategic questions like "What really is the question being asked?" and "What do you know that relates the question being asked to the quantity given?" should assist the student to think things out for him/herself.
6. Above all, positive support and encouragement of the student along with stated faith in their ability to understand will provide the greatest long range benefit.
7. Students should focus on learning the material first and grades second. I have always found that if students take this approach, the outcome is usually good grades .
8. Getting a B in Chemistry may be disconcerting to a straight A student, but rest assured, a college admissions officer will look more kindly on a B in Chemistry than an A++ in Underwater Basketweaving!
9. Turn off the TV. They must understand that learning is never a passive activity (like TV); it is always active.
10. Academic progress, as our international friends and competitors understand, depends on hard work and perseverance. Recently, several articles have appeared in various newspapers such as the Burlington Free Press, Christian Science Monitor, etc. that show that future success and earning potential is directly correlated with level of education. Please make sure teenagers are not working so long earning pocket money that they have no time for school. It should be your teenager's job to learn, to become the "worker" in their own education.