Thinking+and+communicating+with+clarity+and+precision

Thinking and communicating with clarity and precision can be something that we forget to do in Chemistry as well as in life. In chemistry though, the slight difference between observations could lead to opposite conclusions.

For example. A property of acids are that they taste sour. While a property of Bases are that they taste bitter. When I first read this in our chemistry packet, I was confused as I thought the two descriptions were basically the same thing. In chemistry though it is the subtle differences that tell you more. From studying the properties of acids and bases I started to pay attention to how I was describing my observations. I looked back in my chemistry notebook and I have realized that at the beginning of the year I used words like looks white or looks red during experiment observations. Near the end of this year though I begun to write in more detail on what I was seeing including texture, clarity, color, smell. I feel as though I have grown in this regard, which is now to me an important skill. It can be applied outside the classroom too in how we give feedback to our peers. Our we merely stating blankly obvious surface information or are we digging deep into the core of our knowledge and testing ourselves as well as our peers in how we process and communicate ourselves?