Will ya just slow down for a second?

I've got two classes this semester that I'm actually fairly enthused about. I'm taking general chemistry 2 and microbiology. The thing about these two classes is that they both have labs. In my dork mind, this pleases me. I want to know what the hell a real chemistry experiment is supposed to be like. I want to learn from my lab experience what a microbiologist does in the lab. Unfortunately, my experience with my labs has left my inner dork wanting more. Actually, I just want my teachers to slow the hell down and explain to me or the class for that matter what the hell is going on. I consider myself to be fairly bright and capable of understanding what a class curricula might be trying to achieve through the laboratory process, but the current set-up my classes have been employing just leaves me clueless.

So far, I've learned how to turn a microscope on and to make a slide in focus. I've swabbed a Q-tip on a petry dish and seen some gunk grow. Now what? Just what in the hell are we doing in this lab. I'm actually optimistic about this class, my microbiology class, though. The teacher is great. She very thoroughly explains in lecture everything that we need to know and actually has a way of deviating from a structured lesson plan to include tangential information that I find intellectually pleasing. I have a sneaking suspicion that as this semester continues, that my laboratory experience in microbiology is going to be entirely different long-term than my chemistry class is going to be.

My chemistry class is being taught by an adjunct who is teaching this class for the first time here at my college. While I'm sure that he's a very capable chemist and his background in teaching at the collegiate level is impressive, I'm just not sure he's prepared for this class. After sitting through a couple weeks worth of lectures, I'm finding myself disapproving of his style and preparation much more frequently than I approve of it. I suppose that I can accept that he's a new teacher and that he may not be familiar with the text. I can accept that he's learning as he goes what the college expects to be taught and in what order. I can also accept that my mastery of the material will probably be as a result of my own hard work and the intimacy I develop with my text. What I'm finding a little more difficult to accept is the absolute chaos that the lab experience in chemistry is turning out to be. I do the pre-lab work, I have a general idea of what we're going to be doing, but I think that I'm doing more pre-lab work than my instructor is. The haphazard way in which we measure and titrate various chemicals relates somewhat to our lecture material, but it's just impossible to see the big picture when no one knows what they're doing.

I really would like to see what a real chemistry experiment is like. If someone would just slow the f&$@ down and explain what we're doing and why, I think I might understand what an experiment is designed for and what I'm supposed to learn. Unfortunately, the rush to get out the door and to have all the appropriate blanks filled in seems to be the priority for both my classmates and my instructor. I'm left wondering what in the hell we just did, why the hell we did it, and what the hell was the purpose. I'm certainly no Einstein, but I'm sort of under the impression that a chemistry lab is supposed to explain some of that stuff to some degree.

I also really want to see what a microbiologist does in the lab and I feel some of the same frustrations here that I feel in chemistry, but I also sense a method to the madness. I have a feeling that my micro teacher has thought this thing through thoroughly and that in a matter of a few weeks, I'll be performing experiments with some direction behind them.

It's always good to have something to look forward to, so I guess I'll cling to my optimism for microbiology and just hope for the best in chemistry. If anything, I'm reinforcing my belief that good planning is good for a reason.