Today in class as we were talking about the achievement gap I started thinking about the two main factors: teacher dedication and teaching strategies. The first thought that came to my head was "duh!", the other was- how do we fix it. I haven't been in a regular classroom, but I have been working closely with staff in a school building for several years and the biggest complaint I hear is that there is no time. In my district the superintendent has decided that students must have 1.5 hours of language arts, 1 hour of writing and 1 hour of math. Plus 1/2 hour lunch, 1/2 hour recess and between 30-50 minute special. This total time equals to 5.5 hours out of a 6.5 hour day. Add in transition times and now we've got a whole whopping 30 minutes to teach both science and social studies. I guess a possible answer is trying to incorporate more science into writing and math and language arts.
When I was in grade school everything was separate. There was reading then math then science then social studies... However, I also remember having a lot more fun in school when we had science time and got to watch the hamsters run around or collect leaves for observation.
Earlier in class we also discussed being open-minded and questioning and it made me remember something from last week. I work in a children's library over the summers and we received this book called the "Eleven Planets." I was totally confused since in school I was taught that there are nine and that a couple of years ago Pluto was demoted. So, I read the book and learned all sorts of interesting facts about dwarf planets and gaseous planets and terrestrial planets. From this I really learned that science is an ongoing process of exploration. What we decide today may not necessarily be true twenty years from now, so it is good to keep an open mind.
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2 comments:
I like the activity you mentioned about collecting leaves for observation since it can lead into a good botany lesson. I'm not sure though about the hamsters since there really isn't much you can say about animal behavior in grade school. I totally agree with what you mentioned about science in general though. That it is always changing making new discoveries that change lives. That is really why I always had an interest in science myself. I would like to emphasize that to my students and try to get them interested and actually want to ask questions to learn more.
Andrea,
I think people often don't like science because they feel as if it's all figured out. But inherent to the culture of science is working to make even better sense of the universe. Your example of the planets works well. And I understand there's still some debate about leaves changing color. What makes science so interesting, at least for me, is that there are plenty of questions that still remain.
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