Friday Geeky T-Shirt Blogging: There's no crying in chemistry

I got this one for all the ladies that come over to my house for tutoring and are in a emotional panic over their chemistry class. (Have you noticed the camera on my smart phone is scratched? I got my hubby's cast-off with the jacked up lens. At least it is a phone, and it's smart.)



From girls, to teenagers to grown women, I have seen more tears shed over chemistry than any other subject. And if there is one thing that will guarantee failure in chemistry is panic; the outward sign of that panic is tears. So if you want my help, the tears have to cease. Otherwise, learning cannot continue. Tears = total brain shut down.

Faced with a difficult multi-step problem, males and females attempt to solve said problem with divergent styles.  A male will skim the problem and immediately start furiously writing, almost as if it is a race. He then circles his answer and looks at me with a proud look on his face. At this point, I burst his bubble and tell him his answer is wrong.  It is wrong because he did not read the question carefully and so instead has the right answer for a different question entirely.  (I believe this mental process is the same one that causes men to be reluctant to read directions or consult a map.)

A female will read the question carefully, consider it, and consider it.  She knows exactly what the question is asking.  She can usually see the first step in her head, but after that she does not know where to go next.  Since she cannot easily see the destination, she begins to panic.  Her lip starts to quiver and her eyes begin to tear up.  The problem never gets solved and all she has for her trouble is a blank piece of paper with a tear-stain on it. (I have experienced this phenomenon more times than I would like to admit so I immediately spot it in those women I work with.)

If I can get her to take just one step in the problem, she is usually more likely to get the question right than her male counterpart who didn't bother to read the question properly. That first step, even if it is in the wrong direction, illuminates the next step, and then the next and finally the girl gets to the destination: the right answer.  But she has to get over her emotional response to a difficult question and take that first step.