Teaching Girls Science

Fewer girls in science can be largely tied to the lack of creativity, social interaction, and content that does not relate to every day life.  These issues are prevelant in traditional instruction; however I would not limit these issues to girls only.  I think this is similar to taking the science content to the concrete to benefit all students.  Some of the students may not need to be creative or have social interaction; but these activities are not detrimental to learning.  Relating how science content can apply to our daily life and how we can use science content in our life benefits everyone.  I would argue that if you are not including these activities in your classroom discussion (and this applies to more than just science) then you are not truly trying to make the learning experience as benefitial and as valuable as it can be.

Reflection on class so far...

I have enjoyed the format and content of class so far.  The way that science class was structured during my elementary and secondary days was quite different from what we have been discussing so far.  The class discussions have been structured and guided to deconstruct my previous notion of what science class should be like.  I like the format and the focus on higher level thinking and questioning to start the day off in a cerebral way and not by simply learning basic science content.  Like many in the class, I have not had a science class for several years, but we will have the materials available in our classroom or we can find the materials on-line so I am not too concerned about focusing on how we should teach and not what we are going to teach.

I am an "outloud" processor so the class discussions have been an effective format for me to process new information.  I hope the people that are "internal" processors are enjoying the class as well.  Before this class I have never blogged anything outside of blackboard and blogging has been an effective way to see what other people are thinking in class.  I hope that this is something that we can keep going after class is over as several of us are going to be student teaching and then out to the schools full-time.  I would like to be able to network with the people that I have met at Drake because there have been many great ideas and lesson plans shared in our classes.

The Nature of Science

The nature of science is to be constantly exploring the natural world while "living in the gray".  As you explore, you make observations, ask questions, and then try to answer those questions.  The tough part with science is that it is not exact and may not have one solution i.e. science "lives in the gray".  I may be able to make a model that can replicate somthing that I am observing and trying to figure out, but just because the model appears to behave in the same way does not mean the model is correct.  There may be several different ways to explain the how or why and any of them might be right.  The "living in the gray" aspect of science is why we have to make assumptions about relationships between things.  If we cut open tree after tree and they are all the same, we can make the assumption that all trees are the same or similar.  These relationships can help us make additional observations and continue to build evidence.

How I think science works

I have been thinking about how science works and the processes used.  My initial thought went the scientific method, but that seems a bit too simple.  However, as we learned in class, nature often behaves in the simpliest fashion and when something does not operate in the simpliest fashion, there is research that needs to be done to find out why (for example:  the vocal nerve in a giraffe).

I think the majority of science is performed in gathering information, experimenting on the information, observing what happens, and then reflecting on what you observed.  This functions in a revolving process where you are constanting moving through theses steps and this would be most effective when you are working with others.  This relies on the process of experimenting and that is one way that we can learn more about our topic.  Changing variables and manipulating conditions can change how something behaves or reacts and we can tie that to our prior experiences and make assumptions.  Exploring and learning more is an essential function of science.

EDUC 225 Blog

Starting the blog for EDUC 225 - Methods of Science at Drake University.