More for National Chemistry Week

See this link http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_MULTICOLUMN_T2_50&node_id=1033&use_sec=false&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=e9d88d0b-6089-4b93-96d2-7a512532543e 

National Chemistry Week (NCW)

2012 Celebrates 25 Years of NCW!

NCW encourages chemists and chemistry enthusiasts to build awareness of chemistry at the local level. Local Sections, businesses, schools, and individuals are invited to organize or participate in events in their communities with a common goal: To promote the value of chemistry in everyday life. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the NCW program and we are excited to partner with the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net). Read more about this partnership.

Find an event in your area.

How Do I Get Involved?

NCW events and programming are organized at the local level. Contact your NCW Coordinator to make a suggestion or find out what’s going on near you!

• Coordinators
• Students & Educators
• Industry Participation
• Community Event

NISE Network™ Partnership

This year’s National Chemistry Week features a partnership with theNanoscience Informal Science Education Network.

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Spread the Word about NCW

• Purchase NCW-themed merchandise from the ACS store.
• Like us on Facebook
• Follow us on Twitter
• Join the NCW group on the ACS Network.
• Do a hands-on activity or demonstration with your family. For examples, seeScience for Kids.

Celebrating Chemistry

Our kid-friendly, hands-on activity publication for exploring important chemistry topics.

Hey - it's national chemistry week

see this link http://www.rsc.org/chemsoc/activities/chemistryweek/

Chemistry Week

The RSC Chemistry Week is a themed week of events that is held every two years to promote a positive image of chemistry and increase the public understanding of the importance of chemical science in our everyday lives.

As well as national events, activities are organised throughout the UK and the Republic of Ireland by the RSC Local Sections.

Chemistry Week 2011

Please note that as it is International Year of Chemistry this year, there will be no formal Chemistry Week taking place in November.

International Year of Chemistry

Watch the exciting experiments conducted at the House of Commons and find out more about the IYC goals and major events.

Chemistry Week 2009

7-15 November 2009. This year's theme was 'Food'. Activities were organised throughout the UK and Ireland.

Chemistry Week 2007

Chemistry Week 2007 took place between 3 - 11 November 2007 and was based on the theme of 'Travel'.

Chemistry Week 2005

The theme for Chemistry Week 2005 was Know Chemistry. The results of the 2005 Chemistry Week Photo Competition can be found here!

Chemistry Week 2003

Chemistry Week 2003 was all about Chemistry's Pleasure and ran from 7-16 November 2003. Find out more details of what took place here.

Bullying is not always in your face, but a subtle means to isolate another

• Bullying is not always in your face and obvious. If you doubt that bullying takes place strategically and in the 'invisibility' of other onlookers..take time to read this . . . Denying or putting down the persons feelings who is being bullied demeans them further and allows the bully(ies) to get away with even more events... it not only belittles the confidence the person being bullied had in speaking out but reduces further social involvement and increases isolation.

  
  

  The Silent Treatment Bully

  
  

  These bullies are much more subtle than the bullies we normally associate with name calling or tantrums. But make no mistake, this kind of bullying is just as aggressive, denigrating, and harmful as the behavior of the Name-Calling Bully or the Rage Bully. It's silent, like a poisonous snake, and just as deadly! Silent Treatment Bullies attack and manipulate by withdrawing and shutting out a particular person completely, leaving them alone and helpless, and feeling abandoned. The Silent Treatment Bully removes all power from the hands of the victim, forcing him or her to try and just get on with life and ignore that it is happening, like a hostage jailed in complete emotional isolation.

  
  

  Another awful side effect of this is that the bully's silence offers a blank slate onto which the victim will project all sorts of fears and anxieties, without any sense of how to address the problem, or even what the problem is: "What did I do?" "Have I said something?" "What's going on in her head?" "What on earth can I do to make this better?" "Is this all my fault?" This treatment is abandonment of the worst kind; the victims feel as though they have disappeared, that they don't exist.

  
  

  An example would be a person who wouldn't talk to another, but cast sideways glances in the direction of the person, but refused to acknowledge their presence in any way. When entering into a room, the bully would get up and leave. When the bullied person tries to speak to the bully, the bully would turn coldly and refuse to speak justing walking away. And when in company the bully would literally turn their back or partake in snide remarks and note passing, leaving the person increasingly demoralized and miserable. is this bullying? You bet it is!

  
  

  {C} Inside the Mind of the Silent Treatment Bully. These bully types - such as the Silent Treatment bully who employ subtler, stealthier bullying strategies, and often are threatened by the person they bully for no apparent factual reason. It could merely be the way another person looks, their achievements, the way they talk, their confidence or something as simple as the car or suburb they live in.

  
  

  {B} The Body Language Bully

  
  

  Much more difficult to spot than the Silent Treatment Bully is the Body Language Bully, whose techniques are so subtle that even their victims might not realize they're being bullied. The victims of these bullies might only get 'bad vibes' or feel strangely uncomfortable without being able to understand exactly what's disturbing them. Because of this subtlety, the victims might think that they're misinterpreting the bully's behavior, or that they have no right to speak up or take a stand, because it seems like there's not really anything to complain about. But trust me, there is.

  
  

  Body language is a key component of human communication. I'm sure you've heard the expression "Actions speak louder than words." It's absolutely true, and imperious bearing, disdainful expressions, or postures that threaten or shut out the victim--crossed arms and legs, leering or rolling eyes, turning away when the other person is speaking, looming menacingly over or looking down upon the victim, to name just a few examples--are every bit as damaging as cruel remarks or raised voices, and should be taken just as seriously.

  
  

  {C} Inside the Mind of the Body Language Bully

  
  

  The Body Language Bully might have learned his or her behaviors from a parent. Or, like the Silent Treatment Bully and other bully types who employ more subtle, stealthy bullying strategies, this bully might have been raised by a Rage Bully or an otherwise verbally or physically abusive parent and developed this stealth bullying method in response. Again, the focus of the bully may be fixated on something others may appear to consider irrelevant. 

  
  

  The Passive-Aggressive Bully

  
  

  This is another one of the 'stealth' bullies, along with the Silent Treatment and Body Language Bullies, who are all harder to spot because their bullying techniques are not in your face. In his or her behavior, the Passive-Aggressive Bully is almost the opposite of the Rage Bully or the Temper-Tantrum Bully; rather than reacting directly and immediately to a trigger situation, the thing that sets the bully off, Passive-Aggressive Bullies will often take their time, and will bully in indirect ways.

  
  

  {C} Inside the Mind of the Passive-Aggressive Bully

  
  

  This is standard operating procedure for Passive-Aggressive Bullies, who lack the confidence to stand up for themselves. They're afraid rejection and retaliation will result if they overtly disagree or directly address a conflict with another, even if that conflict is imagined, so they find sneaky, insidious, and corrosive ways of communicating their displeasure--a roundabout response that almost always involves doing something they know the person they are bullying won't like.

  
  

  Many Passive-Aggressive Bullies were raised by a Rage Bully, or an otherwise verbally or physically abusive parent and possibly raised by a resentful, rageful father.

  
  
  

  • 
    

Jobless, Tired and Wondering . . .

Well, well, well., another week begins. I don't really know where last week went to - after an ear and sinus infection put me in bed for a few days and then seemingly catching a vomit bug I find I am still catching up with sleep, work and what I missed at College - and 'Oh' - how I hate to miss classes . . . So, today, saw my first day back at College and my first evening back to my casual work. A PhD and working for minimum pay - I could cry if I wasn't so busy laughing at the irony. Still, it keeps me busy and in touch with mankind . . . better than sitting at home twiddling my thumbs in front of the TV. About the TV . . .

. . . During my tea break I streamed a programme on TV which was looking at Western Bengal and the most venomous snakes, 3000 Monocle Cobras, living with humans because they rid the village of rodents. When the snakes die the villagers take its body to the Ganges so it can continue it's spiritual journey. That is all I had time for but how fascinating. Imagine . . . sharing your bed with a venomous Cobra . . . urrr . . . NOT! My dog and cat are about the limit, keeping my feet warm.

Anyway, back to the blog: in precisely 3 weeks time I will be officially unemployed, for the first time in my life since leaving school at 15 years old when I got my first job in a grocery store working for two pounds an hour. Quite true. I have mixed emotions and thoughts about it - if it wasn't for money worries the emotions and thoughts might be a little less ping-pong like. It isn't from lack of applying for jobs either. 36 rejections and counting... leaving me somewhat tired and 'blue'. Yet, another new experience. It has left me wondering what the point of paying for an education was.

Someone recently told me that they only really started to take study seriously so that one day they could prove to their biological father they weren't as useless and worthless as he always told them they were and how he thought they were. It was simply a means to prove they were worth something after fighting all their life for acceptance from him, but alas it never came. In their later years it became painfully obvious it never would, so they gave up, wished him well and tucked the qualifications under their 'I achieved something' belt rather than allowing him to gloat over the 'I did something right' statements he made when finding out they had done something rather useful with their time on earth, instead of boozing, fighting and rambling from one unsteady job to another as he had, in his wisdom, done. I never quite understood how this persons father could make the "i did something right" statements with him trying to take credit for what they did on their own, paid for on their own and struggled to support them-self, working and studying to achieve something with no support. It made me smile considering this person never once showed any interest in his kids life unless tearing it down, criticising or ordering them around like his personal slaves, let alone help with any homework - nope., not once: not ever. Teaching Practice made me realise that actually, this is quite common. It is a painful reality in many lower social economic areas and it breaks my heart.  Achievements of these students are their achievements, for them, not for anyone else - so., if nothing more I found I had great sympathy with many students and I wish I could do something worthwhile to make a difference.

When I heard some of the kids on Teaching Practice relate their home experiences and sense of low self-esteem whether verbalised, acted out or otherwise, I wanted to go the extra mile to tell them they are worth something, they are someone, they are valuable human beings, but it is kinda over-stepping the mark a little, but I could see how education could do that - instill value. We can seek all our lives to be loved by those that should love us and never find that. Like the student on TP1 who was left home all weekend alone and drank herself silly so she pulled the knife out in class on Monday morning. She was all bolchy and bad mouthed but at the foundation of her issues was the mere need to be loved as a child should be loved, to be cared for, to be valued and to have parents that don't leave her home all weekend alone. Her needs are for boundaries that show her someone cares. I hope that eventually she will come to value herself and not give up on her own education whether academic, artistic or otherwise. I hope all students from homes that do not value education find value in education for themselves. Surely, I can make a difference. Surely, if I found a job teaching I could make a difference, but I wonder if I'll ever get the chance. I spend a lot of time wondering what the point of all this was if I don't get the opportunity to at least try and make a difference. Maybe I should take the job permanently in the UK - 

It seems I have a difficult choice to make soon. To accept unemployment or go to the SE of England and work as a teacher there, where I actually have an offer, or stay here and see how things unfold. If I thought my other half could get a job in the UK I wouldn't hesitate to move but with racism the way it is, unemployment raging through Europe and the majority stereotyping Muslims it might be wise to stay put for now. Then, we have another issue that is coming together which means if we stay put in a little while we will have something that we have been planning and working towards for no less than a very long and exasperating 14 years. How privileged to have options.

In the meantime, I am looking forward to working on an Education Studies essay with a colleague that I just printed the readings off for this evening whilst at work: talk about multi-tasking . . . and then there is a Chemistry practical to think about. So far I am thinking acid-base neutralisation experiments. I'll start the handout tomorrow I think and start practicing the demonstration when there is free time in class. I wonder if I will get the illusive A+ final grade I've been hanging out for all year . . . I'm ever hopeful.

That's it. 

Better go and be useful now.

Aftershock nerves . . . 4 week countdown

Well, it is nearly the end of the course! This last five week block is somewhat dragging on if only because it is a very strange feeling having had to report to 'work' everyday for the last 2 months and then return to College. After saying that Professional Studies has been very informative with learning about Dyslexia, Cystic Fibrosis, Dyspraxia, Autism, Hearing and Sight Challenges, ADHD and various other learning 'disorders' and how one might accommodate different learning styles in the classroom to facilitate learning outcomes for these students. I would really like to get into Special Needs Education but uncertain how to do that or how to attain formal Counselling status. Once this award is complete I may look further in to options and possibly some distance learning providers.

Education Studies is quite interesting although there seems to be some discontent with this course I am overall quite happy with it. I enjoy Gregory Lees lectures and enjoyed learning about Web Tools 2.o although I am not an advocate for forcing people to set up copious accounts online for the purpose of gaining a decent grade. There are significant privacy and ethical considerations and concerns there even if using an anonymous account. Still, the course taught me a lot and I enjoyed building web pages using MySchoolsPortfolio.

Chemistry remains my most challenging course but I had fun working with a fellow Chemistry student on a Halogens presentation, that I haven't don't yet because I got an ear, throat and sinus infection last week which has seen me at home for most of the weekend as yet.

In the last lesson we had for Chemistry on level 4 of the Chemistry block there was a 4.2 aftershock. Not too happy being on main campus as it is where I was trapped under my desk for a few hours in a major shake. I thought I'd never have to bloody well go back there and then the College of Education announce our Chemistry classes will be completed on the main campus. I really am not happy and felt quite demeaned as another student couldn't understand why I left the building immediately, shouting comments after me as I left. The ear/sinus infections came at the right time for not having to go back again last week, but I'm going to have to find a way to face that next week. I sound a bit of a dumb-ass to others - so I realised as I promptly left last week - especially since some had a much worst experience than I, but grappling around in the dark walking in to hanging wires and having bits of glass, wall fittings and tiles falling on my head while not being able to find my way out of the building let alone off campus is not an experience I want to have again. I'd rather not go back into the soddin' building but too embarrassed to say anything so will need to have to 'suck it up' next week. I HATE being back on the Ilam Campus. Hate it so much it makes me feel physically sick, but I've managed so far. If  I don't go back to class I guess I'll fail the course and it has crossed my mind not to go back especially since I have a job offer I don't need the GradDipTchLn for but wouldn't that be slightly ridiculous of me!? As with a lot of people I am looking forward to the end of the course, if only for a lay in and rest! Specifically so I NEVER have to venture on to Ilam Campus again.

I have a 4000 word essay to write in collaboration with another student for Education Studies, NCEA examinations to mark for Chemistry, review and comment and then a presentation to do for the final assignment for Chem. I believe that is the entirety of the marked assessment due and the A+ grade I so wanted to get has so far been illusive. Sigh.

With 4 weeks to go, students are starting to ask questions about registration and working overseas for credit towards full registration here. It is looking ever more likely the option of working in the UK from Jan-April will be a well needed start to registration, although I feel it more wise and reasonable to accept the non-teaching position I have been offered here which will fullfill my working needs, income, professional development wishes and opportunities for advancement. I think the decision is already made, it is just a matter of my accepting it and moving on.

All in all, looking forward to collecting my regalia and walking across the stage in December.

Last block at College

Well, back at College and the general consensus is that we would all have preferred more Teaching Practice than have to come back and do a truck load of work that is compulsory but not assessed. No-one on the course can see the point, and to be honest I didn't at first. The general murmurings were related to successful completion of two TP so what is the use in mini-teaching episodes at College. Is there benefit of spending the time doing this and then having to sit there and watch everyone do the mini-teach thus wasting any class time we have doing stuff we are already competent with. Needless to say there were some very unhappy students at College - some so much so they walked off when they knew what we were doing. After saying all this, I am looking forward to doing the Special Needs presentation and research for Prof' Studies, especially since it is an interest of mine. So I do see value in this exercise.

I hope to get the Chemistry exam out of the way this week. It would have been done by now if the lecturer had posted who had what exams to mark before we went on TP but he didn't and it still isn't on Learn/Moodle. After saying that I should have made a copy of the markers but I didn't, so I shouldn't blame the lecturer to fiercely. A few of us are feeling the pressure of assignments that could have already been completed still needing completing and other 'new' assignments being dished out along with the non-assessed work. Regardless, I am hoping to get that assignment out of the way this week. There are 5 weeks to go and yesterday we were handed a 'Reflection' Assignment - reflect on your first assignment related to your Teaching Philosophy and reflect on how your thoughts and ideas may have changed. I ran that off in 1.5 hours yesterday. After 7 weeks of reflection on TP it wasn't exactly taxing and if folk dont know the answers to that assignment after TP 1 and 2 there are some serious issues somewhere.

Other than that, the weather is dreary - bring us some NZ sunshine, I say and I just want to get out of College now. Paid for the Regalia yesterday, which I havent mentioned at home considering we have no money, but as this is the last time I will ever graduate I think I should graduate in person. It represents quite a large sacrifice in income leaving a well paid job to undertake teacher training and was to represent a change in career. As it stands jobs are so short in supply it seems I'll end up doing something else but the year wasn't wasted - I met some fabulous people and had two good placements with great Associates and my abilities were stretched so all in all - no regrets, but needs must, so, as there are no teaching vacancies for me to apply for today I am off to apply for a shop assistant job now. Wish me luck.

I wouldn't employ a graduate, but rather someone with an inquiring mind, says Robert Jones . . .

Another interesting read . . .

Wanted: inquiring minds By Jonathan Milne

Robert Jones. Photo / Supplied

"I'll pay for personality and an inquiring mind. I won't pay a penny more for a degree." So says Sir Robert Jones, one of New Zealand's most successful businessmen.

Jones did study at university - but says it's about broadening the mind, not training for the workforce. There are too many "bullshit" degrees, he says, such as marketing. Jones knows people who have done units in cross-country skiing and a degree in the life of boxer world champ Muhammad Ali. "Now, I knew Muhammad Ali, and there wasn't a lot to study."

One woman, he was alarmed to discover, had even written a 200-page doctorate thesis on the life and business practices of Bob Jones - without ever talking to him. "It was complete gibberish. If she really wanted to know what motivated me, she should have come and asked me."

"I'm staggered how little lawyers are paid when they start out. We wouldn't pay a secretary that little, for answering the phones, typing and making the coffee.

"But we do have a higher standard of girls than most organisations.

"The only way doctors earn big bucks is by going over to Saudi Arabia or somewhere. When I was young, wharfies got paid more than bank managers.

Jones does tell his children to go to university - but advises them to study subjects like history, that teach them to think, then leave. The piece of paper at the end, he says, is worth little.

And from what I've seen of the salaries in the Auckland wharf dispute, it's still true today."

So if Jones won't pay more for degrees, what will he pay for? "We look for someone who reads - if they weren't reading the newspaper and books every day, if they didn't subscribe to the Economist or something, we wouldn't employ them."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10837418

Even more depressing news about the state of jobs, pay and the value of a NZ Education

Here is an article published in the New Zealand Herald on Sunday which coincidently completely outlines the situation I've found myself in for the last decade. Still should we believe these figures? Maybe my audience in Russia and American can give their perspective by leaving a comment.

Our degrees are not paying

League tables might not be welcome as  a measure of schools' performance but the OECD periodically publishes a feast of them that are used by its member nations as a reliable comparison of their educational results. On one of those tables, New Zealand's efforts in tertiary education, have rated surprisingly badly.

This country is at the bottom of the table for salary gains from tertiary qualifications. On average, a person with a degree from our universities does not earn much more in a lifetime than someone without one. The net value of a man's tertiary education here is just $63,000 over a working life, compared with $395,000 in the United States. For a Kiwi woman, it's $38,000.

That result will dismay those who raised tertiary fee levels in the 1990s to 25 per cent of course costs based on the contention that the private gain from tertiary education is greater than the return to the public. The student contribution can, of course, be covered by loans now interest-free and repayable only when the borrower reaches an earning threshold, but students have been given to expect a better income for their efforts. 

The taxpayer should be no less disappointed by this result since the bulk of tertiary costs are met from the public purse, either as grants to the institutions or as foregone student loan interest. The graduates' consequent earnings and the taxes on them are the main measure of the public benefit, too.

Why are we getting such a low return from our investment in higher education? University vice chancellors and others will offer answers, including no doubt the accusation that the Government is not investing nearly enough in their institutions. At the last survey, OECD nations spent $16,459 annually on each tertiary student. New Zealand spent $12,000, much less than Australia ($19,000), Canada and most countries we would like to compare with.

So there may be a case for more public investment when economic growth permits. We are spending less than the OECD average on each person's education at primary, secondary and tertiary level, but our education budget is still a large proportion of our GDP, second only to that of Iceland.

In seeking the reason for our poor salary return, the quality of the education provided deserves attention, too. Workforce training has become heavily institutionalised in recent decades.

On-the-job apprenticeships and cadetships have largely given way to tertiary qualifications acquired in full-time study.

The length of the courses, often three or four years, sometimes seems excessive and the per-student funding formula is often blamed for "dumbing down" courses and degree standards. If the lectures are so easy that almost anybody can pass, it could explain the fact that graduates are earning not much more than those with no degree.

Yet the league table shows we are only average in the proportion of school leavers who go on to higher education. International students and mature students also exaggerate our entry rate, and those of Britain and Australia. When they are excluded, Australia slips from first to seventh on the table, New Zealand from fifth to 12th.

Perhaps most disturbing for our efforts to provide equal opportunity for all, we do not score at all highly for intergenerational mobility. A young New Zealander whose parents did not go to university is still not very likely to do so. Young men, in particular, are unlikely to exceed their parents' education.

There is nothing like a league table to puncture complacency. Crude comparisons they may be but they confront us with the need to explain our failings, or change. The challenge is ours.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/education/news/article.cfm?c_id=35&objectid=10837382