He asked a question. Silence.
Alistair skimmed it with skepticism. No lecture? Students figure it out themselves? It sounded like educational utopianism. He almost deleted it. But then he looked back at his lecture notes for next week’s class on chemical kinetics. The same graphs. The same derivations. The same predictable, low-grade despair. He asked a question
“But the question asks: ‘Which model shows a constant half-life?’” countered Leo, the Recorder, stabbing a finger at the graph. “Look at Model B. Every four minutes, the concentration drops by half. That’s constant.” No lecture
The final exam was six weeks away. He was terrified. What if they had learned the process but not the content? What if the beautiful, messy collaboration didn’t translate to individual, silent, high-stakes problem-solving? He almost deleted it
“No slides today,” he announced. A ripple of unease.