Gathering+Data+through+All+Senses

=Gathering data through all senses=

"Observe, record, tabulate, communicate. Use your five senses....Learn to see, learn to hear, learn to feel, learn to smell, and know that by practice alone you can become expert." -William Osler



Sometimes, just using your eyes isn't enough to "gather data." The world is not limited to just beautiful scenery. Thus, sight cannot replace any other sense--hearing, touch/feeling, smell, or taste.

Chemistry is a science where one can't touch/feel (in most situations, especially in this class) or taste an experiment (obviously, that would be extremely unintelligent behavior). Thus, one would only be limited to sight, hearing, and smell to observe.

For our periodic trends lab, my partner and I mixed metals--Calcium, Magnesium, and Aluminum--with liquids--water and HCl--to test the reaction. In this lab, it was exceptionally important to not only add a precise amount of metal, but also to carefully observe the reaction. The reaction was extremely subtle and sometimes difficult to observe. We not only observed the reaction with our eyes, but we also had to listen to see if it emitted sound. Because only an idiot would touch a reactive metal during a reaction to get a temperature, we used a thermometer.

Although in this situation required only a very elementary use of senses, this also did require the usage of senses beyond our eyes. To participate fully, we need to be able to get our hands dirty and be able to appreciate the beauty of everything.

Another example occurred during the first lesson of the "chemical reactions." After mixing baking soda, phenol red solution, and calcium chloride in a ziplock bag, we had to observe the bag for signs of chemical reaction--such as change of colour (using vision), increase in temperature (using touch to feel the heat), and sounds of bubbling (using hearing). In this process, had we not "gathered data" with "all senses", we would've missed a few key observations that could change the way we analyze the results of the experiment--after we mixed the three chemicals, we had to figure out which combinations of two of the 3 chemicals would produce the observation (ie, would phenol red and baking soda produce the gas we observed?).

This habit goes hand in hand with "Responding with Wonderment and Awe." To be able to "respond" with "wonderment and awe", one must be fully prepared to utilize all senses in order to explore and respond appropriately. I'm glad this is also another habit I don't have to work on as much--I believe I generally know how to use all my senses in appropriate situations (i.e. I will never taste an experiment without approval).

Figure 1: The "Phenol Red" experiment.