I am happy to report that after reading the article Lights, Camera, Inquiry by Brandon Schrauth, I have made some connections.
Schrauth worked hard to build science skills with his students. He talked with his class about who scientists are and what scientists do. Then, he told the students that from that moment on, they would be scientists. This is important because it gives the student permission and the responsibility to think and engage. It takes their image of a scientist (which is probably a picture of an adult white male in a labcoat based on images from t.v. or textbooks) and changes the image. When the students is told, YOU are a scientist, YOU, CHILD, who is STILL LEARNING, this is powerful. I think this will lead to motivation and engagement because then they can see themselves as doing what scientists do... One of the cool things about science is that because of it we are always learning new things. By letting students in on this secret, it makes them more likely to ask questions and make connections because now they know there are still questions to be asked!
Students have to be told how to do this, and that they can. Schrauth made a point of teaching students about the structures and processes of science before getting into the content. From what I remember of my own education, that I knew the process and structure was assumed, or was just supposed to come from the content, or wasn't viewed as important at all. Who really knows? But that got me thinking... how does a teacher expect a student, especially a very young student, to "do" science if he or she has never been told how? Yes, there are many things that we learn by doing. But, first we have to know a little bit of background knowledge. How will I learn to chop an onion if I don't first know what an onion and a knife are or where they are located in the kitchen? First students need the skills in order to engage in science content.
I can see connections between what he does with students and our class created goals for students. With the ice hands activity, I see independence, confidence, curiosity, problem solving, and research practices, and communication and collaboration.
What I read in the article is happening in our class as well. We are talking about the nature of science. We are talking about making observations, inferences and decisions for effective teaching. We are talking about what scientists do. We are considering goals for future students.
With our own experiences with the dot trick and the thing with the ropes, I see how goals can be met by doing something simple, interesting and not directly related to the science content in order to build skills. Through those activities, I have thought about science in simpler ways. We are not focusing primarily on the dot or the ropes but the way we use the experience as a conduit through which to hone the skills. While it may not seem impressive at first, asking "how does that rope thing work? are the ropes connected inside?" is research, curiosity, problem solving, at the least. It is the process of science (so... thinking back to my other blog, is the process one of the defining characteristics of science itself? woah.) This is a demonstration of how we can share the process of science with our students in a very easy, simple, and fun way. We are building our own background knowledge so we can apply it to the content when we are in the classroom.
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