Why is my AP Chemistry teacher giving incorrect information?

[moose]

Has said in the past 4 days:

-Our air is 70% oxygen
Umm, actually it's 21%
-A final exam in a chemistry course at Harvard or Standard had the question "What is the chemical formula for ice?" and 70% of the students got it wrong.
I highly doubt it
-We cook noodles in salt water because it lowers the boiling temperature which makes them take in water better.
Salt water makes the boiling temperature higher
-Ice melted at 19*C in our lab because it had minerals in it (it was tap water and by the time all the ice melted and the water was stirred, it was 19*C)
Water around the ice could raise temperature at a faster rate than the ice because the ice was undergoing a phase change, as soon as the ice was now all liquid, the rest of the water had a chance to be really hot. We had the water on a good hot plate...
-THE four nonmatter things are sound, light, kinetic energy, and potential energy
WTF happened to all the other fundamental forces, and what's with the question anyway? I could say that time is nonmatter, the question doesn't make too much sense.
-Food poisoning results when your water temperature is too high, and you should add salt to water in order to lower the boiling temperature.
If the temperature at which water boiled was lower, a lot of bacteria would probably survive the experience and then you COULD get food poisoning.
-A BUNCH of other stuff which I do not remember.


Whenever any of us question her (only about three people in the class ever do, the rest take her word as high as god's, because she is a teacher so she must be correct, right? right?lol), she says some example (like the food poisoning one) or says something about some study which never happened, or she just dismisses us and says something else and goes on.

 

[LeonhardEuler]

I've been in simmilar situations, although not that bad. It's difficult because she is in a position of authority, so she can just dismiss whatever you have to say. When she just says wrong stuff you can ignore it, but when she starts grading you based on wrong stuff, then it gets frustrating. I still haven't found a good way of dealing with that situation.

 

[Moonbear]

The only solution I ever found for a teacher that bad (in my case, it was a substitute we had during a teacher's strike) was to make an appointment to talk to the principal about it. It's one thing to misspeak (i.e., say the boiling temperature was lower instead of higher, but meant to say higher), and another to be wrong and stick to it when a student asks or corrects the statement, and just dismiss the student.

 

[Astronuc]

-THE four nonmatter things are sound, light, kinetic energy, and potential energy

Ask her what happened to taste, smell and touch.

I think the teacher needs help. I have heard of similar comments from someone who was doing drugs.

 

[scorpa]

Coming from a school where many of the teachers were only there because they couldn't make it in a real city school, I feel your pain. Even a lot of our principles were complete idiots. Basically what usually ended up happening with a teacher that bad was my class would somehow or another make them quit teaching forever, or put them on mental leave...yes my class was bad...and no I had no part in it haha.

 

[russ_watters]

You got an iPod? Start recording the lectures...

Make sure when you question her you are perfectly polite, and based on her responses, you may want to play it for the principal.

 

[whitay]

Buy her a textbook?

Actually, I'd find out if she could read first.

 

[scorpa]

You got an iPod? Start recording the lectures...

Make sure when you question her you are perfectly polite, and based on her responses, you may want to play it for the principal.

That's not a bad idea at all. The only problem I could forsee there is that you could get into some trouble by recording her without her permission. I know I have some profs now that will not allow recording of their lectures.

 

[Cyrus]

I pods record sound now?

 

[Pyrrhus]

I tell you, some teachers should just retire. I don't know what the hell, they are doing giving classes. I mean, if i was in her position, i'd feel embarrased. She probably knows she isn't prepared, but still is giving classes? c'mon, just quit.

 

[moose]

I do have an iPod, and I think you may need an attachment to record sound. However, I do have a cell phone which can record for several hours.

Another thing that pisses me off is that if a teacher speaks of some religious or political ideology, the media goes crazy and blah blah. If the teacher teaches chemistry incorrectly and makes the students dumber day by day, nothing really happens.

By the way, when someone asked her if electricity was nonmatter, she said "electricity is electrons". So I politely asked "well, what about the interaction between the electrons?", and she said "they're still electrons", or something to that extent.

 

[chroot]

Sounds pretty awful. I had a senile old chemistry teacher in high school too. In the first week of class, she asserted that "one milliliter is the same as one gram." When I raised my hand and mentioned that that was only "true" for water at STP, she told me that "a pound of feathers is a pound of lead." As many times as I tried to make her understand that a pound of feathers and a pound of lead have different volumes and thus different densities, she would just repeat the same thing over and over again.

- Warren

 

[russ_watters]

I pods record sound now?

They have for a while with the add-on. I don't know how much it costs, but some colleges have started issuing their students ipods for recording lectures.

 

[Moonbear]

I suppose you could ask permission to record the class to help you take notes, so you're covered on that. Then again, what's the worst they could do to you if you recorded it without permission once they hear what she's saying? You just might want to brace your parents for it ahead of time so they are ready to back you up if the principal calls.