Thornton Academy Postscripts Alumni Magazine Fall 2013 | Page 8

IN T H E C L A SSR OOM

Beth Bussiere

“Using the whole page” with science
The juniors & seniors of Advanced
Placement (AP) Chemistry class
decided in early May to spend their
remaining class time creating ”TA
CSI.” The AP students wanted to give
their underclass schoolmates in Intro
to Bio a chance to see how forensic
professionals use chemistry and
biology. The AP Chem students
created a crime scene, interviewed
suspects, and analyzed fingerprints,
blood types, and soils. By following
the clues, the underclassmen biology
students put together a theory and
supported it with facts.
When I teach, I face questions such
as: why science class? Why learn
information that might not be used?
And why learn skills for more than just
the end of the course? To the
students I say: the broader your base
of knowledge, the more interesting
the problems you can solve. Learn
everything you can because the most
complex problems are the most
engaging. It doesn’t matter where you
later apply your problem-solving skills
– a kitchen, an airplane, a court of law

8

- science class will help you be a
better problem solver. Don’t be stingy
about what you learn.
And why chemistry? For so many
people, chemistry is not an intriguing
subject. To understand my love of
chemistry you need to know when I
met it. I had a great childhood and a
great family in all the ways that really
matter, but when I reached middle

For me, the periodic table
revealed a fundamental order
and beauty in the universe.
school I went through a very difficult
time. It wasn’t clear what could be
counted on. There was still love and
joy, but it was mixed with fear, grief,
and betrayal. That is when I met the
periodic table. For many of you, it is
an instrument of torture and
meaningless memorization (a task
that I would never give my students).
For me, the periodic table revealed a
fundamental order and beauty in the
universe. Everything around me at a

POSTSCRIPTS

level invisible to the naked eye
arrayed consistently through time.
Carbon would always have a center
with six protons, surrounded by a
glimmering cloud of six whizzing
electrons. It gave me a profound
sense of comfort and safety.
Chemistry continues to be surprising,
lovely, and reassuring.
An elementary art teacher once
shared with me, “When children first
arrive in school, you give them a big
piece of paper and they draw in a
corner.” She smiled, “My job is to help
them learn to use the whole page!” I
hope that is what I do with my
students as problem-solvers and as
young people growing to adulthood,
to help them to use all they know, all
they are, to help them ask good
questions and to courageously seek
solutions. To teach using the whole
page of who we are means
simultaneously holding what is visible
and invisible in each other, in our
students, and perhaps most
challengingly, in ourselves.