My first teaching assistant duty experience

Last week I have been spending quite a bit of time at the lab to try out all the experiments for the analytical chemistry module I'll be assisting in...just kept doing plenty of titrations man!!!

Yesterday, I went for my first TA duty...wasn't a very big group...just abt 20 ppl...quite a no. din turn up...apparently they have signed up for more than one group and decided to turn up for the other group...hmmm...

Anyway, everything was pretty ok except for this really weird guy...i really wonder whether he's a chemistry student or not...

Here's wat happened...

The students are supposed to prepare 100ml of 0.01M potassium dichromate solution for some titration...

The guy: Where do I get the potassium dichromate solution
Me: U'll have to prepare it urself..can get the solid from the balance room
The guy: (if I'm not mistaken...he was holding on to a 250ml beaker) So I prepare in here?
Me: (Wat??!!!) No. Use a volumetric flask
The guy: (Think awhile...looks a bit unsure)
Me: Weigh the solid into a small beaker (100ml) then transfer into the volumetric flask
The guy: Can I use the weighing bottle
Me: U can, but I think it's easier if u use a small beaker
The guy: Then can I use this one (pointing to the 250ml beaker)
Me: (Ahhhhh!!!) It's better to use a small one...otherwise some may stick to the wall (larger surface area mah :P)
The guy: Ok. Then wat do I use to measure the water?
Me: (Wat??!!!) Use the volumetric flask...top up to the line
The guy: But the volumetric flask is not accurate...
Me: (Gg to faint liao...but gotta stay composed) No. The volumetric flask is very accurate.
The guy: Ok

Then he went to weigh the solid...took really really long man...maybe he couldn't figure out the calculation??? Molecular weight of the solid is on the bottle containing it...

I thought I shld be done with him...when he came back with the orange solid in the beaker...

The guy: How do I transfer this into the volumetric flask
Me: (OMG!!) Add some water and slowly transfer it into the flask
The guy: Add 100ml ah?
Me: (OMG!OMG!!) No. U add a bit at a time and transfer...ensure all the solid is transfered..then fill the flask to the line with water

So on my first day of my TA duty...I have taught a year 2 chemistry student how to prepare a potassium dichromate solution as though that person is some JC or secondary school student...OMG!!!

Thank god the rest of the class was not like that....

Today I went for my second TA duty...a much bigger class...40 students and they are definitely not as blur...in fact, they seem to ask a lot of chim questions...like why do I add ammonia to this...then add HCl to that etc etc...oh man...learnt from the other TA...just refer them to the lab tech or lecturer...hehe
Aiya...I'm a pharmacist lah...not an analytical chemist lah :P

Another thing I noticed...today's class seem to be more kan cheong or ks...maybe it's because they were told they have to stop for discussion at 4pm...instead of 5pm...but one of the lab tech mentioned that students tend to be more "kan cheong" when it's a bigger class...

Anyway, we had to hold this discussion session at the end of their prac...I seem to have escaped that yesterday...hehe...lucky me ;D

My next TA duty will be 3 weeks later...hopefully it's better ;)