Mr. Laughlin, Hamburg’s main chemistry teacher, self-proclaims himself as ‘Chem Guy’. Chem Guy is the teacher that runs Audio Technology, and he is one of the organizers of Java Jam.
The high school Mr. Laughling graduated from was Blue Mountain. He got his undergrad at West Chester University for Chemistry in 1994, his master’s at Wilkes-Barre University for Classroom Technology, a master’s at LVC for STEM education, and he is currently getting his GIS certificate in West Chester; which allows him to officially teach about Geograohic Information Systems. Originally, however, he went to West Chester for a music degree, and he ended up getting a science degree because of how many science classes he took.
Mr. Laughlin’s teaches both Honors and PS Chemistry, along with Geospatial Technology here at Hamburg. As Hamburg’s chemistry teacher, Mr. Laughlin’s favorite aspect of chemistry is physical chemistry, including quantum, electrons, and material chemistry. His favorite test he has the students do is the flame test where they test different elements over a bunson burner, and they try and figure out what element it is by the color of the flame. He loves teaching the 3 mysteries that rock the science world, which incorporates music into physical chemistry. He also likes teaching physical chemistry related classes, too. He says “the students at Hamburg are awesome, that is what I enjoy most.”
His hobbies are mainly playing rock and roll and recording music with his synthesizer. One joke he says all students should know according to Mr. Laughlin is “never trust an atom, they make up everything.”
