Chemical equations

Suzie Harrison

Potentials, strong bonds, volatility, two halves making a whole,

chemical reactions, breaking up, looking for meaning is often equated

with relationships. Insert the word wolves within the sequence, tuck

goats between a couple of commas and the context becomes a bit more

ambiguous.

To hypothesize what it all means -- to interpret the potential cause

of another element -- it could ostensibly propose a lot of things or it

could mean that you’re in Steve Sogo’s honors chemistry class at Laguna

Beach High School.

“My goal is to train them to be scientific,” Sogo said.

Sogo teaches his students to ask questions and find their own answers,

to test ideas and prove the probabilities. Importantly his students are

listening.

“He’s the most fun teacher because he makes things interesting,” said

student Becky Johnson.

“He knows how to teach well and his analogies help kids get abstract

concepts that are difficult,” explained another student Marisa Reisman.

Fat birds don’t fly is a catch phrase Sogo uses to explain volatility.

And to explain chemical bonds and energy, he uses the saying “breaking up

is hard to do” and says that strong bonds are stable and hold together.

A student explained why the chemistry lecture was peppered with the

odd combination of chemical reaction and animal kingdom. Wolves symbolize

something that has a reaction and the wolves want electrons. Whereas the

goats supply the wolves like predator and prey -- it illustrates

reactions -- receiving and taking.

During class, Sogo kept the class involved and interested in what they

were learning. He gave memorable examples -- live, in color and sound,

including special effects, bringing a great visual and auditory reference

for the students to remember.

When he was describing the permanganate’s auto catalyzing process he

described the color, which was purple with deliberate pauses to coincide

with the speed of the process at that stage, which is very slow.

He took the class through the different color changes and continued to

replicate the speed of acceleration. The class laughed as they enjoyed

his example.

Sogo also publishes a weekly chemistry newsletter for his students

called “BAck2 the BeAcH.”

A viewpoint heads the beginning of the news and gives goals with

concise subject description.

The main body is called Bit o’ News, which covers topics the students

will be learning about that week and features a related story or

experiment reprinted from Science News.

The last section breaks down per day what they’ll be learning, what

they need to read, assignments and lab and what their homework is.

Perhaps his newsletter is another reason his students enjoy his class

and have fun learning chemistry. Or maybe the reason is best summed up by

his students.

“He makes chemistry really interesting, the labs and the experiments.

It’s never a dull moment in this class,” said Kristen Papazian.

* SUZIE HARRISON is a reporter for the Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot.

She may be reached at 494-4321.