Many a student struggling
with math or science
has turned to an online Khan
Academy tutorial. Founded
by Louisiana native Salman
Khan, Khan Academy has
produced more than 6,500
videos that have been viewed
almost a billion times.
Now another educator of
South Asian origin hopes to get students interested in
organic chemistry through online videos.
“The field of organic chemistry has made a tremendous
mistake in not showing students and the general
public its importance and why they should love it—or
at the very least, appreciate it,” said Neil Garg, professor
and vice chair for education in UCLA’s department of
chemistry and biochemistry.
Garg, who was named California Professor of the
Year in 2015, has worked with his students to develop
BACON (Biology and Chemistry Online Notes), a set of
online tutorials that show the connection between organic
chemistry and topics such as sports, health, genetics,
and even TV shows.
“I enjoy thinking about how to teach students the
relevance of organic chemistry in an engaging way,”
Garg said. “So many students don’t appreciate organic
chemistry and the important impact it makes on our
lives. It’s a teaching challenge to help change students’
perceptions about organic chemistry, and I welcome
the challenge.”
Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge.
[Comments? Contributions? We would love to hear from you about Chai Time. If you have contributions, please email us at melvin@melvindurai.com. We welcome jokes, quotes, online clips, and more.]