|
news
Teaching with
humor
By Derrick Engoy
On-line Forty-Niner
He strapped on
his safety goggles and smiled at his students.
As light gleamed
off of his head, he shook the plastic bottle filled with alcohol
over a growing flame.
He smiled again.
When the time was
right, the makeshift rocket propelled off the soda can launch
pad, leaving a trail of flames on the counter. Smoke loomed
over the professor's head, disappearing in seconds. The students
cheered and applauded.
He smiled again.
Dangerous to many
perhaps, but experiments like the "Bacardi Rocket"
can be unique tools of learning.
"I urge you
all not to try this at home," said Tom Gufrey, a part
time chemistry professor at Cal State Long Beach. "Only
a fool would do this."
Gufrey, light-hearted
in all aspects of life, has a unique way of educating his
students.
Humor.
Whether setting
his head on fire or singing popular contemporary music in
an educational manner, all of the students in his Chemistry
100 class are attentive.
"I chose to
take him because I heard he was really fun," said Linda
Nguyen, a sophomore fashion merchandise major. "He really
puts an effort in getting us to learn."
A part-time CSULB
chemistry teacher since 1987, Gufrey constantly searches the
Internet and television shows for new experiments to present
to his classes. He said they may be crazier than other approaches,
but they are more effective.
"I always
make the joke that when I attended a chemistry lecture, I
fell asleep," Gufrey said. "What scared me was I
was the guy giving the lecture. And that kind of made me change
my teaching technique."
Aside from his
experiments, another one of Gufrey's signature styles of teaching
is the use of music. Gufrey takes a song, such as Christina
Aguilera's "Genie in A Bottle," and overdubs his
vocals to turn the original into an educational song.
"Most young
kids are pretty familiar with pop music and R & B,"
Gufrey said. "It's kind of a good way to take something
they think of as fun and put it in an educational context."
Gufrey repeats
his students' names when connecting with them in class, making
every effort to get to know each of them as an individual.
He said he believes teachers should play a more significant
role in a student's college career and that students should
come first.
"I wish there
could somehow be a way to try to address the individual needs
of students and treat them with more dignity and respect,"
Gufrey said. "Perhaps more importantly, to be a model
for decent or ethical or moral behavior. To show that education
is far more than the technical skill of things."
Gufrey also teaches
chemistry part time at Marymount College in Rancho Palos Verdes.
He said he is fortunate to be a part-time professor because
he is not obligated to committee meetings and educational
research, which gives him more time to deal with his students.
"He takes
student's problems as if they were his own," said one
of Gufrey's teacher's assistants, Inhwa Lee, a senior child
development major.
The evidence of
Gufrey's unique teaching style and beliefs in reaching out
to his students is perhaps most evident in his classroom.
Student participation is extreme. Hands are raised to answer
questions and volunteers to work problems out, in front of
the class, are at a consistent level.
As described by
senior criminal justice major Kennetta Coulter, one of Gufrey's
teacher's assistants, he is the greatest humanitarian a person
could ever want to meet.
|
