25 August 2014
Summarized from the Straits Times
A National Junior College (NJC) chemistry teacher, Mr Harman Johll, adds creativity to his lessons by the use of card games.
Inspired by the Happy Family card game, Harman made his own version to teach students particle physics.
With his card game, he got students to group elementary particles according to their families, using the rules of physics.
For instance, the quark family consists of the up quark, down quark, top quark, bottom quark, strange quark and charm quark.
With a science department colleague, he made another three card games linked to science concepts, some inspired by Monopoly Deal and Rummikub.
For his innovative teaching methods, Mr Johll is one of the four winners of this year’s Outstanding Science Teacher Award sponsored by the Science Teachers Association of Singapore and the Singapore Association for the Advancement of Science.
Mr Johll’s chemistry classes are effervescent in other ways — he regales his charges with fun facts about molecules.
“Once, when my students and I were discussing the shapes of molecules, we came across the molecule sulfur hexafluoride and I asked them if they knew that helium will cause their voice to turn squeaky,” said Mr Johll.
“And I told them that sulphur hexafluoride will make them sound like an ogre,” he added, changing his voice to sound deeper.
“This was not related to the lesson at all, but it got the students interested.”
– See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/premium/singapore/story/teaching-science-sometimes-art-20140825#sthash.p0qAtC8W.dpuf