{"id":20499,"date":"2021-07-12T14:50:24","date_gmt":"2021-07-12T14:50:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/?p=20499"},"modified":"2025-03-17T09:55:13","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T16:55:13","slug":"reflective-writing-enters-equation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation","title":{"rendered":"Reflective writing enters the equation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Words describing chemistry at the start of the quarter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Difficult. Challenging. Impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those were the words Dr. Charity Lovitt\u2019s students used to describe chemistry in their first week of class. The amount of negativity in her students\u2019 choice of words was overwhelming, she confessed. \u201cIt was absolutely horrible.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the course, however, the words changed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Dr. Charity Lovitt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe still saw difficult and challenging,\u201d Lovitt said, \u201cbut we also saw interesting and accomplished. It led to this awesome teachable moment where I could talk to the students and say, \u2018Hey, look at how far you have come. This is proof you can do hard things.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be fair, it wasn\u2019t just the UW Bothell students who were up against a challenge last year. Lovitt, associate teaching professor, and Brandon Finley, assistant teaching professor, both in the School of STEM<\/a>, were faced with teaching a hands-on subject in a remote environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In years prior, students would make pancakes in the lab to learn about the chemical reaction between a leavening agent (such as baking soda or baking powder) and an acid ingredient (such as buttermilk). \u201cThe reaction produces tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide gas that form throughout the pancake,\u201d Finley said. \u201cThe more bubbles you have, the fluffier your pancake will be.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teaching this kind of chemistry lesson online, Finley and Lovitt had to make a lot of adjustments. The one thing they wouldn\u2019t compromise on, though, was student engagement. \u201cThe course content still had to be exciting to learn,\u201d Finley said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it was. By using reflective writing \u2014 an unusual approach to learning in STEM \u2014 the faculty encouraged their students to use their imagination in a course otherwise firmly grounded in reality. This technique not only engaged students, but it also gave the professors valuable insight into how they could better support learning in their virtual classrooms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fence-post problem <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the ways writing is brought into a chemistry classroom is through problem solving. Finley often asks students to write out answers to obscure problems, hoping to get a sense of how they work through difficulties and what their instincts are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Brandon Finley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Two summers ago, Finley was struck with inspiration. When building a fence, he came up with his best question yet. \u201cThere was a stubborn fence post that just refused to come out of the ground. Every time I pulled it out, it would just snap right back into place,\u201d he said. Eventually, he started to think about it from a chemistry perspective and realized it was a result of air trapped underground. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI decided to pose the fence-post predicament to a class to see how students would work through it,\u201d Finley said. \u201cI asked them to write about what approach they would take. I was looking to see if they were using chemical ideas, remembering important principles and making a logical argument. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhether they were right or wrong wasn\u2019t as important.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, about half the students succeeded in figuring out the solution: pouring water into the dirt which released the air bubbles and allowed the fence post to pop right out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love coming up with these kinds of problems because they don\u2019t exist on Google \u2014 they just exist in my weird head,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is actually a great way to get to know students because it motivates them to come to office hours when they can\u2019t just Google the answer.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thinking about thinking <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For Lovitt, who is also the associate director for First Year and Pre-Major Programs<\/a> and the Discovery Core<\/a>, reflective writing has always been a big part of her teaching practice. \u201cResearch shows that reflection is one of the most powerful tools in learning because it\u2019s the ability to not just know what you learn but to reflect on what you\u2019ve learned. It\u2019s a metacognitive process, thinking about thinking,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She has also found that written reflections can do more than just provide academic insight. They can also provide a window into students\u2019 lives outside of the classroom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the many challenges that students faced in 2020, Lovitt decided to provide a way for her students to self-report any obstacles they were facing that would prevent them from participating in class. She was surprised to find a lot of students were struggling with food insecurity as well as pandemic and non-pandemic related trauma. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI ended up embedding the links to the Husky Pantry<\/a>, the CARE Team<\/a> and the Counseling Center<\/a> to the writing prompt that asked students about the obstacles they were facing. That way, they didn\u2019t have to self-disclose if they didn\u2019t want to and could then access resources independently,\u201d Lovitt said. \u201cIt was helpful for me to know how I can better support my students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf I hadn\u2019t provided that space for reflection, I never would have known they were struggling to get their basic needs met.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon her own reflection, Lovitt created a token system that would support students in completing their assignments. She gave each student three tokens to exchange for an extension on any quiz or video assignment up until the last day of class. \u201cThis was something they could activate at any time, no explanation needed,\u201d Lovitt said. \u201cIt was a great way to create more equity in the classroom.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For third-year student Andrew Carrill, the token system helped take the edge off. \u201cThere were just so many things to be stressed out over the past year,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was nice that assignments didn\u2019t have to be one of them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a really thoughtful and considerate thing of Dr. Lovitt to do,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breaking out of the box <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For the class final, Lovitt had students do a reflection-based presentation with only three slides to address what they used to think, what they now think and what they are going to do next. Lovitt said it was the coolest last class of chemistry that she has ever taught. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGiving them that project was really rewarding as a professor,\u201d she said, \u201cand the memes the students included were an awesome bonus.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carrill said the structure of the final helped him simplify complex ideas. \u201cIt was challenging only being able to use three slides. It made me think hard about what the most important information was to convey and how to express it in only a few sentences,\u201d he said. \u201cHaving to simplify complicated processes forced me to have a detailed understanding of how chemistry works. I think that will help me retain the information as time goes on.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Words describing chemistry at the end of the quarter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In Finley\u2019s class, students were given different options \u2014 writing or making a poster \u2014 to demonstrate their learning for the final. \u201cI wanted to allow students to be creative in a class that is often viewed as rigid and purely scientific,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time we break out of that box a bit.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When most people think of chemistry, they think of test tubes, formulas and math. So it might be surprising to learn that faculty in the Department of Chemistry use reflective writing in their course curriculum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_is_archived":false,"_archived_contact_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[202,229],"tags":[],"school":[421],"class_list":["post-20499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campus-news","category-faculty","school-school-of-stem"],"acf":{"related_links":{"toggle_visibility":false,"link_1":"","link_2":"","link_3":"","link_4":"","link_5":""},"highlight_box":{"toggle_visibility":false,"title":"","content":"","button":"","button_style":"angled-purple-button","button_screen_reader_text":""},"contact_type_1":{"toggle_visibility":true,"contact_title":"Contact Us","email":"test@uwb.edu","phone":"(206) 999-1234","box":"Box 358500","address_line_1":"18115 Campus Way NE","address_line_2":"Bothell, WA 98011-8246","location":""},"contact_type_2":{"toggle_visibility":false,"contact_title":"","email":"","phone":"","box":"","address_line_1":"","address_line_2":"","location":""},"social_media":{"toggle_visibility":false,"facebook_url":"","instagram_url":"","linkedin_url":"","twitter_url":"","youtube_url":""},"blog_archive_sidebar_visibility":false},"yoast_head":"\nReflective writing enters the equation - News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reflective writing enters the equation - News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When most people think of chemistry, they think of test tubes, formulas and math. So it might be surprising to learn that faculty in the Department of Chemistry use reflective writing in their course curriculum.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-12T14:50:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-17T16:55:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/05\/BeforeClass.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"770\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"368\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Reflective writing enters the equation\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-12T14:50:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-17T16:55:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation\"},\"wordCount\":1168,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/05\/BeforeClass.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Campus News\",\"Faculty\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation\",\"name\":\"Reflective writing enters the equation - News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/05\/BeforeClass.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-12T14:50:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-17T16:55:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/05\/BeforeClass.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/05\/BeforeClass.png\",\"width\":770,\"height\":368},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Reflective writing enters the equation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/\",\"name\":\"News\",\"description\":\"Just another UW Bothell site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/author\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Reflective writing enters the equation - News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Reflective writing enters the equation - News","og_description":"When most people think of chemistry, they think of test tubes, formulas and math. So it might be surprising to learn that faculty in the Department of Chemistry use reflective writing in their course curriculum.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation","og_site_name":"News","article_published_time":"2021-07-12T14:50:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-17T16:55:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":770,"height":368,"url":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/05\/BeforeClass.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Reflective writing enters the equation","datePublished":"2021-07-12T14:50:24+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-17T16:55:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation"},"wordCount":1168,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/05\/BeforeClass.png","articleSection":["Campus News","Faculty"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation","url":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation","name":"Reflective writing enters the equation - News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/05\/BeforeClass.png","datePublished":"2021-07-12T14:50:24+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-17T16:55:13+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/05\/BeforeClass.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/05\/BeforeClass.png","width":770,"height":368},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/12\/reflective-writing-enters-equation#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Reflective writing enters the equation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/","name":"News","description":"Just another UW Bothell site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/author"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20499"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32068,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20499\/revisions\/32068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20499"},{"taxonomy":"school","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/school?post=20499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}