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October 25, 2002
A: FROM MENTOR CHARLENE CASSIDY
IN SC
Erin, If you plan on pursuing a SET related degree in college,
it would
be best to take chemistry while in high school, just to have
some
pre-college exposure to it. Also, most colleges require 1
unit of high
school chemistry as a pre-requisite for admission.
October 25, 2002
A: FROM MENTOR SUZANNE FRANKS
IN KS
Erin, that's a good question. My first reaction is to say
absolutely
yes!
Then I tried to think about why. Here are a couple of reasons:
The more times you see and learn about something, the better
you
understand it. So, if you take chemistry in high school, it
will be
just that much easier in college than if you had never seen
it before.
But why take chemistry in high school at all? Well, most SET
careers
are going to require at least a little chemistry in college.
Once again,
it's easier if you've seen some of it before. You don't want
to close any
doors to possible careers this early in your life, and taking
chemistry
helps keep the doors to all the SET careers open.
But finally, I think chemistry is fun, at least if you get
a good teacher.
And even if you don't - if you can manage to see past bad
teaching
to the beauty of understanding the chemistry of the world
around us.
The Exploratorium web site has collected "10 cool chemistry
sites"
you can find them at
http://www.exploratorium.edu/learning_studio/cool/chemistry.html
I also like the "What's Cool" In the World of Chemistry
web site
http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/chem/becmajfold/coollinks/coollink.html
October 25, 2002
A: FROM MENTOR MAMIE MOY IN
TX
Yes, you should take chemistry in high school. Knowledge of
chemistry
will help you to understand topics and concepts in other science
areas. Knowing chemistry will help you make decisions in your
day to
day tasks, chores and personal activities. Chemistry enhances
your
problem solving skills whether in science or any other activity.
To understand the structure of DNA or the metabolic processes
that go
on in our bodies, we need to know chemistry.
October 25, 2002
A: FROM MENTOR NATALIE BIR-CLAYTON
IN CO
There is no substitute for a solid foundation in science formed
prior to
beginning post high school studies. The concepts learned in
high school
will give you a head start on the more advanced concepts covered
in
college. The other advantage is the method of teaching in
high school is
most often more conducive to building the foundation through
open exchange
of information. At the college level the style of learning
is very often
more self study with large amounts of material to read and
digest.
Chemistry is a great science that you have exposure to every
day of your
life. The earlier you begin to assimilate the basic concepts
and can see
them at work the more likely you will be at succeeding later
in life. Have
fun with it!
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