This year, my science teacher, Cory, has been showing me an entirely different method of learning. Unlike most of my previous teachers, Cory does not teach out of a textbook. Instead, the class conducts experiments and he encourages us to try figuring out what phenomena we are seeing in the experiment. As opposed to most of the experiments I have done in the past, he does not explain what is happening or why it is happening. Although he gives us the information we need to figure it out, he pushes us to investigate, be creative and find out what is happening on our own. This is both challenging and intriguing and it drives me to learn and understand the content.

One experiment we did was an elephant toothpaste experiment. We mixed hydrogen peroxide and yeast in a container, then put a balloon on top of the container. We saw a liquid that looked like water, and some gas inflated the balloon. Back in class, Cory told us that the chemical formula for hydrogen peroxide is H2O2 and explained that the yeast was a catalyst, which just speeds up the chemical reaction. He then challenged us to figure out what was going on. We brainstormed ideas and realized that two hydrogen peroxide molecules were turning into water (two H2O molecules) and Oxygen (one O2 molecule). During the school year we did many experiments, similar to this one. All of the experiments were interesting and pushed me to learn and understand the concepts.

Cory’s way of teaching has challenged me and pushed me in ways I have never experienced before. This way of teaching gets me thinking about why things work the way they do, instead of just how they work. For example, when we learned about atoms bonding, I wondered why carbon and 4 hydrogen atoms form covalent bonds instead of ionic bonds. I was intrigued by this question, so I investigated it on my own, and found out it is because it requires less energy.

I am now exercising this way of thinking in the other subjects I learn. For example, instead of just learning about historical events, I am asking about the reasons they occurred and their implications on history. I hope that my future high school experience will continue to challenge and encourage me to investigate and ask more profound questions, as I have learned to do in Cory’s class.