Chemistry For Your Life

#135 Rebroadcast

Well guess what, Melissa is a PhD Doctor now! And you know what that means? She gets to tell us more details about the research she did to get her PhD. Listen to hear what Melissa found as she dove deep into the question "Why do people hate organic chemistry?" for the past few years.

References from this episode

National Research Council, (2012), Discipline-based education research: Understanding and improving learning in undergraduate science and engineering, The National Academies Press.

Graulich N., (2015), The tip of the iceberg in organic chemistry classes: How do students deal with the invisible? Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 16(1), 9–21.

Xu X. and Lewis J. E., (2011), Refinement of a chemistry attitude measure for college students. J. Chem. Educ., 88(5), 561–568.

Gibbons R. E. and Raker J. R., (2019), Self-beliefs in organic chemistry: Evaluation of a reciprocal causation, cross-lagged model. J. Res. Sci. Teach., 56(5), 598–618.

 
Support this podcast on Patreon

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Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com

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Thanks to our monthly supporters

Sara Hull

Dog Day Dan

Bri .

Summer Alden

Amanda Raymond

Kyle McCray

Justine

Ash

Vince W

Julie S.

Heather Ragusa

Autoclave

Dorien VD

Scott Beyer

Jessie Reder

J0HNTR0Y

Cullyn R

Erica Bee

Elizabeth P

Rachel Reina

Letila

Katrina Barnum-Huckins

Suzanne Phillips

Venus Rebholz

Jacob Taber

Brian Kimball

Kristina Gotfredsen

Timothy Parker

Steven Boyles

Chris Skupien

Chelsea B

Avishai Barnoy

Hunter Reardon

 

Support this podcast on Patreon

Buy Podcast Merch and Apparel

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com

Watch our episodes on YouTube

Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife

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What if the biggest challenge in chemistry education isn’t helping students survive—but helping them thrive? In this final bonus episode of our BCCE Community Conversation series, Melissa talks with Dr. Leyte Winfield about creating learning environments where students feel like they belong. They discuss moving beyond “weed-out” culture, designing courses that maintain high standards while expanding opportunity, and why the future of chemistry depends on empowering talented students rather than simply filtering them out. It’s a fitting conclusion to a series all about rethinking how we teach and learn chemistry.

 
Important Links

Submit a Question for Community Conversations

bcce.divched.org/2026

YouTube.com/@chemforyourlife

chemforyourlife.com

 
Timestamps

0:00 – Introducing the final BCCE Community Conversation

2:40 – Meet Leyte Winfield and the vision behind “Shifting the Equilibrium”

4:25 – From “weed out” culture to empowering student success

9:30 – Success-oriented vs. deficit-oriented teaching

13:30 – Practical ways to help students thrive without lowering standards

16:00 – Open deadlines, accountability, and lessons from COVID

18:40 – Connecting chemistry to students’ everyday lives

20:00 – Why organic chemistry shouldn’t be about memorization

22:20 – Rethinking mentoring and preparing the next generation of chemists

27:40 – Wrapping up the BCCE series and looking ahead

 
Support this podcast on Patreon 

Buy Podcast Merch and Apparel

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com

Watch our episodes on YouTube

Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife

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#028

This week, Melissa and Jam travel even further down the rabbit hole of hair chemistry. How does our hair get damaged? How do we curl, straighten, and perm our hair? What's going on there at the molecular level? Let's find out!

References from this episode

Biochemistry, Edition 4 - Garret and Grisham

Making waves: The chemistry of hair perms - Christine Herman, Chemistry & Engineering News

How Did the 80s Get Hair So Big? - American Chemical Society

The Chemistry of Hair - C. S. Whewell, Ph.D., F.R.I.C., F.T.I.

The Science of Curls - Leidamarie Tirado-Lee

Support this podcast on Patreon
Buy Podcast Merch and Apparel

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com

Watch our episodes on YouTube

Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife

 

Thanks to our monthly supporters

Sara Hull

Dog Day Dan

Bri .

Summer Alden

Amanda Raymond

Kyle McCray

Justine

Ash

Vince W

Julie S.

Heather Ragusa

Autoclave

Dorien VD

Scott Beyer

Jessie Reder

J0HNTR0Y

Cullyn R

Erica Bee

Elizabeth P

Rachel Reina

Letila

Katrina Barnum-Huckins

Suzanne Phillips

Venus Rebholz

Jacob Taber

Brian Kimball

Kristina Gotfredsen

Timothy Parker

Steven Boyles

Chris Skupien

Chelsea B

Avishai Barnoy

Hunter Reardon

Support this podcast on Patreon
Buy Podcast Merch and Apparel

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com

Watch our episodes on YouTube

Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

How do we build chemistry classrooms where more students can thrive? In this bonus BCCE Community Conversation preview, Melissa talks with Matt Mio about neurodiversity in chemistry education. They discuss why every student experiences learning differently, how understanding those differences can make us better teachers and colleagues, and why creating more accessible learning environments benefits far more people than we might expect. It’s a thoughtful conversation about curiosity, empathy, and what it means to teach the whole student.

 
Important Links

Submit a Question for Community Conversations

bcce.divched.org/2026

YouTube.com/@chemforyourlife

chemforyourlife.com

 
Timestamps

0:00 – Introducing the Community Conversation on neurodiversity

2:40 – Meet Matt Mio and why this topic matters to him

6:10 – What the BCCE session will explore: students and faculty

11:00 – Why more educators are thinking differently about neurodiversity

14:00 – Melissa’s ADHD journey and designing courses that help everyone

18:30 – Questions to bring back to your own teaching community

19:10 – Universal Design for Learning and meeting students where they are

24:00 – Why awareness is the best place to start

25:30 – ADHD “superpowers” and different ways of thinking

28:00 – Looking ahead to the Community Conversation at BCCE

 
Support this podcast on Patreon 

Buy Podcast Merch and Apparel

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com

Watch our episodes on YouTube

Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hairspray seems simple… until you actually stop and think about it.
How does it come out as a fine mist? Why doesn’t it dry up inside the can? How can it hold your hair in place without acting like glue? This week we’re unpacking the surprisingly clever chemistry behind one of the most common products in our homes—and discovering it’s far more complicated than either of us expected.

Support this podcast on Patreon
Buy Podcast Merch and Apparel

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com

Watch our episodes on YouTube

Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife

Timestamps

0:00 – A question inspired by our forensics episode: what is hairspray?

4:40 – The three ingredients inside a can of hairspray

10:40 – How the propellant turns liquid into a fine aerosol spray

18:30 – How polymers create an invisible “hairnet”

29:00 – Why designing hairspray is harder than you might expect

36:20 – How hairspray compares to gel and mousse

45:50 – Fun categories: movies, cast iron, and things that turned out to be more complicated than expected

References from the Episode:

Thanks to our monthly supporters

Sara Hull

Dog Day Dan

Bri .

Summer Alden

Amanda Raymond

Kyle McCray

Justine

Ash

Vince W

Julie S.

Heather Ragusa

Autoclave

Dorien VD

Scott Beyer

Jessie Reder

J0HNTR0Y

Cullyn R

Erica Bee

Elizabeth P

Rachel Reina

Letila

Katrina Barnum-Huckins

Suzanne Phillips

Venus Rebholz

Jacob Taber

Brian Kimball

Kristina Gotfredsen

Timothy Parker

Steven Boyles

Chris Skupien

Chelsea B

Avishai Barnoy

Hunter Reardon

Support this podcast on Patreon
Buy Podcast Merch and Apparel

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com

Watch our episodes on YouTube

Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.