I find the four strands of science very interesting, and fairly encompassing of everything that should be covered in a science classroom and the methods of teaching science overall. I find the prospect of actually teaching to and incorporating all of these strands incredibly daunting though. Just the incredible amount of content and strategies that should be covered, coupled with my own disinterest in science, makes it seem like an impossible task.
This article has lead to me to seriously ask myself – “How much do I actually have to KNOW in order to teach my students?” To an extent, I find the answer obvious. To follow Strand 2 – Generating Scientific Evidence – it is obvious that I would need the skills of the Scientific Method. I would need to know their order, and how my students should follow them in an effort to correctly generate and gather scientific data. I must admit though, that I am not sure how much farther than that my actual current knowledge needs to go. Is it acceptable to learn WITH my students? I don’t mean to sound crass or lazy with this, but I wonder if the previous knowledge that I have is enough, or if I need to supplement my knowledge of science now, as is obviously happening in this methods course. I just wonder, given that I was not really taught science as a child using the four strands, how successful I will be in imparting them on my future students.
As for the Trouble With Textbooks article, the portion that resonated most with me is under the heading “Just the Facts.” The overwhelming amount of factual information and the seemingly unending process of memorizing these facts are like a recurring nightmare for me. I honestly can’t remember a teacher making the real connections, or aiding us as students in learning a process and an explanation. As long as a student could spit out the words they wanted to hear, they seemed to think we understood. From my perspective now, I understand how little I actually learned, and how much that is affecting me at this point in my educational career. I find it empowering and exciting to read this portion of the article and gain some of the skills and information I may need to help my own students make these connections.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Laura,
ReplyDeleteI think you will be a great science teacher! Because of your experience in the past with so much memorization of science facts, I think that you will have a better idea of how to plan an effective science lesson. You have experienced first hand the effects of teaching science through a lot of facts and memorization, so you will be better prepared to know how to avoid that. However, I agree with you that incorporating the four strands in the lessons is a lot to think about.
As for learning science with your students, I think that you definitely can. As a teacher, you will do outside research to help you learn what you have to and want to teach as you go along. I think a good example of this is in the case study when the teachers started with an idea, but then had to do more research to be able to effectively continue the lesson. In the case study, the teachers also worked together, and when you are a teacher, hopefully you will have others that you can collaborate with to help come up with some great science lessons!
I agree completely that trying to cover everything and to teach in a way that is as enriching as possible is an extremely daunting task. There is so much to do and a lot to know. BUT, I think that we already have a lot more knowledge and intuition on doing this than we realize. I have seen several teachers in our years of observing who don't even try to teach science. They teach three units all year that are science related and these units are developed around plans that focus on rote memorization rather than strategies that use these four strands. I think that by having in mind what it should be like is a great start, and we will be able to figure out how to actually plan all of it out.
ReplyDeleteWell, Laura, rest assured, you are not the only one who is overwhelmed by the idea of needing content knowledge before teaching it.
ReplyDeleteBut I had an interesting though at my placement last week. We were outside at the pond and one of my students asked me why frogs rell the way they do. And I answered with "Becuase frogs breath through their skin." Where did I even get that? At triva- that's where. So, maybe we have enough inate common sense to figure out how to teach science.
Just a thought.