Vyacheslav Samoshin

化学教育, 和其他专业教育一样, has two broad purposes: an education of the specialists in the area of (chemical) discipline, and a general development of personality through its professional growth. The undergraduate chemistry course teaches pre-med and pre-pharmacy students to work systematically, to organize and systematically memorize a large amount of information, 对复杂问题进行逻辑思考, 分析一个多因素问题, and to make a reasonable decision while given an insufficient information, 等.

This is especially true about the organic chemistry course, which has an exceptionally unified structure and logic. When lecturing, I emphasize a highly logical and systematic nature of the chemical knowledge. 同时, I do not avoid a demonstration of flaws and weaknesses in chemical theories. 这有助于展示生活, 化学的实用性质, and to convince students that there is nothing supernatural or incomprehensible in this science.

I consider the process of teaching as an everlasting interaction with students, implying a constant mutual adjustment of a professor and an audience. Therefore I encourage questions and discussions at the lecture, and especially at the study sessions. The feedback from classroom evaluations helps very much in this process. Addressing students' concerns, I have significantly improved my teaching style.

I like to use modern presentation tools to visualize and illustrate some difficult chemical concepts, especially when talking about 3D-chemistry or spectroscopy. However, I try to write down or draw on black/whiteboard as much as reasonable. I explain and demonstrate thoroughly the drawing of formulas and writing of the chemical reactions, so that the students follow me and gain skills in doing this. 这个练习很重要, because a simple inability to do the chemical writing and drawing properly is often one of the major reasons for a failure in the course.

The demonstration and explanation of problem solving is an important part of the lecture course. Unfortunately, there is always not enough time for it. To a great extent, this deficiency is compensated by the Peer-led Workshops. 除此之外, when time permits I offer the study sessions devoted to difficult concepts and problem solving, 尤其是在期末考试之前. 我尽量使学习不那么拘束, and to help students to work through the problems instead of just giving them a ready explanation or an answer. 我在办公时间也用同样的方法. 我给你提示而不是回答, 并给出解释, 如果有必要的话, only when a student has done her/his best trying to solve a problem.

A diversity of an audience is the greatest challenge for a teacher. In any class there is a fraction of students that are eager to study, because they like to gain knowledge and exercise their brain, 或者他们认真对待自己的职责. There is always a fraction of students who sleep through the lectures and try to slip through the course. And there is a whole spectrum between these extremes. I always try to make my course challenging and labor demanding enough for the best students of the class. 同时, 我给不那么有天赋的人足够的机会, but honestly working students to earn a decent grade. Technically it could be achieved in various ways: for example by giving "bonus" problems or questions at the tests that allow to improve a score, by rewarding answers (sometimes even good questions) during discussions at the lectures, 等. 这创造了一个额外的动机, 重新唤起对讲座的注意力, 并使学生更多地工作和思考.

The graduate/advanced courses allow me to be much more flexible in teaching. 我把讲课和解决问题结合起来, 用仪器做实验工作, with student reports on recent publications and a discussion of relevant topics, 还有各种家庭作业, and with a preparation of a final report in the format of a re搜索/review article or a re搜索 proposal, 哪些内容需要在课堂上展示和答辩. The proportions of these components vary depending on the particular subject of the course, 班级的规模, 学生的个性. 在理想的情况下, the purpose of an advanced course is to prepare students for an independent re搜索 and a presentation of results. I try to make the relations in the advanced class more active and interactive, 类似于研究小组内部的关系.

A supervision of the undergraduate and graduate students' re搜索 was always an immanent element of my re搜索 activity. A re搜索 conducted jointly by a professor and a student is the highest form of scientific education, 不仅仅是概念, but also all the details of experimental know-how are individually transferred from a master to an apprentice (and sometimes - the other way around) or jointly discovered. This level of a collaborative education is vitally important for the very existence of chemical science. The best way to organize and perform this type of education is to have a few generations of the chemistry students and re搜索ers working together in the same lab. This way the chemical skills and knowledge are most efficiently transferred to the benefit of all participants.