Thinking outloud

I’ve had to engage in high-level thinking and been given a purpose for my learning—for this I’m greatly appreciative.

In my opinion, the goal of this class is to understand the nature of disciplines (in this case science) and the pedagogical skills of effective teaching.   I’m more likely be an effective teacher when I have been a participant in an effectively taught classroom.  This class has been a good model for effective learning because of the following:
•    We reflect on the process of each class period
•    We engage is discussion
•    We use concrete objects and abstract concepts to solidify concepts
•    We adjust our thinking
•    We ask how and why questions

After engaging in science activities, we’ve reflected on how the activity fits into “how science works.”  By doing the activity and then reflecting I’m able to make sense of the big ideas.  Learning is not memorization; learning is making sense of how ideas work together.

Coming into this class I felt very unconfident to teach science.  Although I still have much to learn and much to practice, I am a little more confident to teach science and I am excited to be a part of this class.

Something that worries me a bit (likely because I’m a planner) is that our projects at the end of the semester are going to take a lot of work.  I like to spread out my learning and feel that the two large projects at during the second half of the semester may seem daunting.  I’m keeping my mind open to how the semester is planned.

Why teach the nature of science?

Students experience the nature of science in the world around them.  Whether students know or not, science is a part of their daily lives.  The water they brush their teeth with is somewhere being studied for contaminants and minerals, the weather they wake up to is being studied by a meteorologist, the food they eat is being studied in Iowa farm fields, and the moon they fall asleep to is being studied.   Students can't escape science!  And why would they?

The students in my class may some day be the scientists I describe above.  If we fail to let students experience what Professor Kruse coins "the essence of science" and rather teach them the traditional "scientific method" we really haven't students much at all.  Science isn't linear: Science is messy, confusing, and thus more intriguing.  If students think the nature of science is the "scientific method," then what motivates them to be curious and how will they seek out answers?  No problem can be solved through three basic steps.  Problems are solved through discussion, observations, interpretations, past experiences, making comparisons, and asking questions--all in no particular order.

How does science work?

Science works when a person pursues their curiosities. For example, if there weren’t people who took interest in finding out why tornadoes spin a particular way, there wouldn’t be people studying why tornadoes spin a particular way.
Following this curiosity, scientists ask questions, formulate predictions, make observations, construct inferences, write, reflect, test—often in no particular order. (Although, making an inference does involve synthesizing an observation and past experiences.) Even though I grew up learning the scientific method as a way to “do” science, science is much more than the scientific method. Science is more than the scientific method because scientists are consistently maneuvering from asking questions, formulating predictions, making observations, constructing inferences, writing, reflecting, and testing. For example, if I wanted to know why my basil plant is slowly dying, I might first make a prediction as to why this is happening or I might reflect on how the basil plant has existed through the summer. The aforementioned example demonstrates that science works in a very messy model—linear by no means.
In all cognitive processes and actions that scientists make, scientists are influenced by past experiences and prior knowledge. Our questions, predictions, observations, inferences, reflections, and results are in some ways reflections of our own beliefs and experiences. As humans we cannot filter out every life experience—we’re humans.

After all of my above reflections, science is still ultra confusing.