Learning for the Right Reasons

When a teacher says she cannot learn for her students she means that her role is to facilitate and meditate the learning. She needs to bridge the gap between what they already know and what they have the capability of knowing. Teachers can only encourage their students to learn and think independently about the material. Although a teacher can try to drill information into her student's heads, she cannot force them to get a deeper meaning from the material.

To be honest, all my life, I have been learning for my grades. I have been studying, doing homework and reading in hopes that my hard work will be rewarded with an A. Very recently I have realized that the grade is meaningless without understanding. Most of my experiences in classrooms have been trying to memorize the correct answers in order to be able to produce them on a test and get a good grade. I believe that this is very common. In my life thus far, I am more frequently asked how well I did rather than what I have learned. Because of this constant pressure to get the best grades my learning has been centered around performing.

Interestingly, Mr. Wilson let the students make mistakes and simply points out that a mistake has been made and leaves it up to them to correct it. This facilitates learning. Students learn from their mistakes and by coming up with a solution on their own, the students are reaching a higher level of thinking. If Mr. Wilson would have stopped the students and told them what to do they would not have realized that there is a way to make a mistake and thus, they would not have learned.

I live on Long Island and the beach has been a huge part of my life growing up. I will definitely use this unique aspect of our geography to interest the students. I will bring in water from the ocean and the bay and the rivers and streams near by so we can test the water. I will ask the student what thy want to know about the different water whether it be density, salt content or anything else I will allow them to test it in a way that is meaningful to them. I can also bring in sand from different areas of long island and we can compare and contrast the differences and come up with reasons why sand might be different in different places. More importantly, I will ask my student to bring in a piece of nature that is meaningful to them and we can explore the things that interest each of them.

The Sad Truth about Me and Science (Before this Class)

Before this class I was grappling with my “scientific self.” I was prepared to tell my future students that there is a scientist inside of each one of them but I was not entirely positive I believed there was one in me. I knew science was a part of my every day life, however, put the word science on such a high pedestal I felt that it was a branch of education I would never be comfortable with.

My tenth grade biology teacher was a real lazy, jerk. He chose not to teach us anything but instead give us free time to do homework or whatever we wanted. He wanted to be everyone’s friend and all my classmates thought he was the greatest. I knew he didn’t deserve the privilege of be called a teacher. Long story short, I didn’t do very well on my biology regents and neither did the other kids in my class but I did learn that I wanted to be a knowledgeable, respected teacher, everything he wasn't.

At the beginning of this course when asked to draw a scientist, I regret to admit my drawing resembled the stereotypical man with crazy white hair, goggles, and beakers of smoking chemicals. I believe I had this view partially because it is the farthest thing from my self and partially because science has always been so mysterious to me. After all, science is about the unknown and that is why I hadn't established a comfort level with it. The part about science that I have been forgetting is the part where you search and search until you find the answers and then you know! Science is about discoveries and sharing knowledge which is the job of a teacher.

I must admit thinking of two women or minority scientists didn’t come easily. The name Marie Curie popped into my head but I couldn’t remember exactly what she did. After refreshing my memory, I remembered she was a physicist who researched radium and radio activity. Elizabeth Blackwell was the first female Doctor in the United States.

I have more opportunities to explore nature than I choose to take. Every day when I walk to class I could observe the trees, plants and animals. I could take trips down to the Hudson to explore the wild life there. I could simply look at the night sky and observe the constellations. Unfortunately, I have not taken any of these opportunities in the past but I hope to develop a new appreciation for nature and see the world through a scientific lens.

The Sea inside the Shell

Someone exhibits a scientific way of thinking any time that individual asks a question, makes a prediction and tests their prediction. Someone can be scientific if they are observant.

As a child I was very observant and I explored the world around me. Although I was a young scientist I can remember having misconception about the sound seashells make when you put your ear to them. I always thought I was hearing the sound of the ocean because seashells come out of the ocean so there must still be a little ocean in there. Over time I continued exploring and realized that there are other objects that make the ocean sound that don't come from the ocean. I later came to the realization the sound was made because of the shape of the shells.

Through this process I had taken what I knew to be true and applied it in a new context. This eventually lead me to the real truth about sea shells. By applying what I already knew in a new way I was demonstrating a higher level of thinking because I could think about the world in a new context and this new thought had significant meaning in my life.

When faced with a question that is puzzling me like the sea inside the shell I have always went straight to the computer for answers. I am always amazed by the boundless resources available on the internet is is remarkable the knowledge that is just beyond our mouse.

Class on the Couch

After having the experience of having class through an online conference I realized how useful technology can be. Even though it was snowing we were still able to have class from our homes. Although this was useful in an emergency, I would not want to have class this way everyday. As marvelous as technology is, it is not always reliable. Sometimes the audio would cut out and some people could not get their microphones to operate properly. It was time consuming and tedious to get responses from the whole class. I did not feel as if we were having an open discussion like the ones we have in class. I feel much more comfortable in the classroom where I can see the expressions of the instructor and my peers. This got me thinking about my own virtual classroom. I think it would be very challenging as a teacher to try to teach online everyday. It is more difficult to keep your students engaged. The could be very distracted by the things going on in their own home. If something happens to their internet or computer they could miss class altogether. The combination of all these aspects made me realize how frustrating it could be to teach online. That being said, I am excited to use video conferencing in my classroom occasionally to connect with people we otherwise would be unable to communicate with.

Stunning Snowflakes!

This weekend I was on my way back from Albany and I stopped to get some gas. It was flurrying and as I was pumping my gas I looked at my dark blue car and I noticed something I had never seen before. In all my 19 years of life I have never seen perfect snowflakes. As I looked at my car I was able to see the intricate structure of each of the flakes. They looked perfect! I have heard that no two snowflakes are the same but they say, "seeing is believing." Each flake had a unique pattern some of them looked like tiny flowers. It was remarkable! I made my friends get out of the car to look at the magnificent sight. We stood in awe of the beauty. Unfortunately, none of us had cameras with enough quality to capture the perfection. Next time it snows, I want you to try to find the perfect snowflake so you too, can appreciate the beauty of nature. This is a link to snowflakes up close! check it out!

Balloons Galore!

Pop! What a fun lab! I must admit, reading about the balloon lab in the chapter was more exciting than do it in class. I wish we would have done the lab in class before I read about it. I wish I could have actually participated in the lab without knowing what would happen. The lab had no anticipation for me because I know exactly why the balloon did not pop. It was difficult for me to pretend to be a student after knowing the ending result. I can't wait to use this activity in my own classroom! The students will love the use of the colorful balloons and I know they will be intrigued by the mysterious blue liquid. I can't wait to encourage them to use inquiry methods to design there own experiments to test their ideas. I want my class to be buzzing with discussions about results and explanations.

Tabula Rosa

The other day as I sat in my dorm room making flash cards for my networking class, I began to feel like a blank slate! It was a horrible feeling! I was making flash cards to memorize the terms I was unfamiliar with and that I would be quizzed on the following day. As I wrote the terms and their definitions, it occurred to me that I had no prior knowledge on the subject. I was making flash cards with words on one side that I had never heard of and the definitions on the reverse side had terms and concepts that I was also unfamiliar with! I spent the night memorizing my flash cards and although I knew them very well, all I had done was memorize the words; but there was no meaning behind the words. The following day, I took my quiz; the questions that involved matching the words to the definition were easy because I had memorized my cards. However, there were questions where the answers did not match the definitions I had memorized. After class, I went to speak with my professor. I explained to him how I felt lost because I had no prior knowledge of the subject. He told me that I did well on my quiz so I had nothing to worry about. I tried to explain to him that although I can recite my flash cards I could not have a conversation with someone about the material. I did not understand the material beyond the memorization of meaningless definitions. My teacher finally understood and spent the following hour and a half trying to help me. This whole ordeal made me great full that students come into school with background knowledge. I don't want my students to ever feel like a blank slate. I will invest much of my time trying to establish what kind of background knowledge my students have so that I can give them all the information they need to fill the gaps.