Teaching and learning as Professor H

 

 with 8.7 million views and counting - was produced by a group of students who wanted to have fun with Hafensteiner general chemistry class. Prof. H, as it is called Hafensteiner, agreed to give students five minutes (15 didn't) at the beginning of the first class of the year. Someone posing as Hafensteiner established in the law (non-cellular and not portable) and warned them of the high failure rate, at the same time destroy their hopes of entering medical school. Once the fear had set, the real Prof. H appeared, demanded to know who was the charlatan and assumed control of the intruder, to the relieved applause of his students.

Prof. H uses that moment to emphasize the difference between the stereotyped concept of the experience of the University Science and his class.

"Introducing and taunts from some very common at the beginning of the class fears, I was able to clarify things," said Hafensteiner. "My class is structured so that they can have success."

Even before the start of the first Conference, it is immediately apparent to newcomers Hafensteiner general chemistry class is different to everything they had in high school. For starters, instead of the typical students from 20 to 30 in a high school classroom, Prof. H class has ten times as many.

Hafensteiner is that their students are making a massive transition from high school aware - where there may be a lot of hand through their courses - to the University of Rochester, where they hope to identify the resources needed to tackle the problems alone.

And Hafensteiner perfectly understands that many of his students have a chemical good experience in high school, even with lots of hand in a smaller class.

"Ninety -nine percent of students who say that they hated secondary chemistry actually admit that you liked the teacher, that has nothing to do with the material," Hafensteiner said. "The challenge is to give students the opportunity to appreciate the science."

Prof. H uses many tools and strategies adopted by other teachers. Works hard to learn the names of the students, applies the material life for every day of course, cool in their classes each semester and employs > clickers to obtain immediate feedback from the students in class discussions and problems. But in the end, success of Hafensteiner as a teacher can reduce access.

"It is the type of teacher that is very accessible," said Sharath Koorathota, a former Professor of Hafensteiner and one of the producers of deception video Student Assistant. "He designed his lectures in a way that supports those who take chemistry for the first time, while it continues to defy everyone in the class."

Hafensteiner holds office three hours each week with anywhere from five to 15 students. Non-office hours as much as they are mini-clases that allow to see it approaching if students are grasping the material.

Prof. H is clearly making a difference. The University of Rochester last spring named Hafensteiner students association teacher of the year in the natural sciences, citing their support for the students and their "ability to feel young any kind".

"Yes, I can concentrate on making the three best students scientific fantastic," said Hafensteiner. "But if that's all what I did, chemical, as a discipline, he would die. One of the most valuable things I can do is make sure that all my students have an appreciation for the field".