SellaTheChemistMar 10
Interesting view from Peter Atkins at the RSC Historial Group - don't tell students that there's a lot of hard maths in chemistry. He argues that there's not a lot of real mathematics. There are a lot of physical ideas that are underpinned quantitatively. Tell students instead to focus on the ideas, and that the maths is easy and will follow.
Lovely account of the growth of PChem in the last 50 years, in part illustrated by acronyms used in his textbooks. Fascinating.
Show threadIan Robinson
@sellathechemist Don't show them his Physical Chemistry textbook too early then! 😂
Mar 10 at 4:48pmIvory for Mac
Show threadSellaTheChemistMar 10
@ianRobinson His textbook contains all the underpinnings, but his point was that teachers need to show students the wood before getting into the trees.
Show threadIan RobinsonMar 10
@sellathechemist Yeah. I was just being facetious.
Show threadSellaTheChemistMar 10

@ianRobinson Facetiouslessness always contains a solid kernel of truth.

I got totally mired in stat mech because I just couldn't get the big ideas. It was all detail, symbols and fractions and somehow what it was for seemed to pass me by. It makes me sad…