Science - Mind Map!

My own personal experiences related to science are somewhat unique.  When I was small, I loved learning. I was (am) insatiably curious, and school was a way for me to continue to satisfy my curiosity ever day.  I loved solving puzzles and problems, seeing things from different perspectives, and creating things.  As I got older, I was a good student, and my favourite subjects were Science and Art.   I was always given the impression, however, that my two interests were incompatible. I came to accept this idea, but it never really rung true with me.  Later in my studies, I ended up studying science, and then fine arts, winding up in graphic design before moving into teaching. While studying design, I was often confronted with how science-like my work was, how logical and systemic, and sometimes totally uncreative. Similarly, I always had experienced science as something creative. And one thing that I feel is a huge overlap between art and science:  both practices are concerned with seeing the world in new ways, discovering "hidden" truths, understanding why/how the world works they way it does, and sharing the exploration of / answer to these questions with others.  Really, I feel that science and art have A LOT of things in common, perhaps more commonalities than differences.  I think this perspective is reflected in my mind map, as it focused more on the questioning and exploring aspects of science than on "domains", or other ways one could break-down the idea of science. 

In my own teaching, I want to bring an excitement for science to my students by focusing on the ways in which science is about exploring, testing, playing, discovering, and satisfying our natural senses of curiosity.  I think all children have a natural curiosity and desire to understand things, and that capturing our students' imaginations in science will help to engage them in it more now and as they proceed through their school experience.  The more engaged they are at a younger age, the more likely they will continue to be engaged in and excited about science as they grow older.   

In terms of ideas I will emphasize/de-emphasize, I want my students to understand that science is not infallible, that all of science is a series of theories and laws that have been observed, proposed, and tested to varying degrees.  An essential goal of the science curriculum overall is to develop students into adults who have science literacy, and are able to engage with scientific ideas and issues in a critical way. Too many people today see science as "fact", and this is a notion I want to rid my students of.

Learning Theories and Science

Last week, through slides and articles, we learned about the constructivist learning theory. 

This theory has two main points as it relates to the education process. First, that knowledge is constructed through genuine experiences, and second, that prior experience is hugely influential on new interpretations.  

This is highly relevant to Science since it is a domain that is largely based on experiences. Experiencing and observing is central to developing a science mindset and so it stands to reason that adopting a teaching style aligned with the constructivist learning theory, where learning happens through experiences, will be an effective way to engage students in science learning. Also, the notion that experience forms ideas means that students will already have constructed models of understanding for things they have encountered in their lives, even if they have yet to encounter them in school. As we saw in the video A Private Universe from Annenberg Learner, when students encounter a new subject at school, existing mental models may be ripe with errors, and will interfere with them developing accurate models, which can interfere with further science learning. These existing models, or misconceptions, are tenacious. They have to be challenged and discredited in the eyes of the student before they can be replaced with new models. 

With regards to the science and technology curriculum, this approach can be used as a guiding principle for science instruction:  that students will come in with science misconceptions, and that they will learn best by having a direct experience that reveals the information to them.  However, to me the tricky thing is that there is a lot of scientific theory that cannot be observed directly or simply, and therefore giving students an experience that reveals the ideas may be a more nuanced and difficult thing to do.  

As an example, in my practicum I was teaching some grade 7 science classes where I introduced the concept of matter and particles.  I felt it was very important for students to begin to incorporate this idea into their mental models of the world, but that it was a difficult thing for them to comprehend.  I introduced properties of solutions lecture-style, but I felt the students would understand better if they experienced the concepts in a more tangible way. 


So, we did an investigation on solutions that had two parts.  In the first, the students mixed together marbles and sand, comparing the respective volumes to the final volume after the two were added (the final volume being less than the addition of the two volumes, because of how the molecules are rearranged when a solution is created.) The marbles and sand were meant to represent different particles, and the sand went into the spaces between the marbles.  The second part of the investigation had the students adding a specific volume of sugar to a specific volume of water, mixing, and recording the final volume (the final vol = less than the two vols added together.)  My hope was that students would use the sand/marbles model to help create a sugar/water model. 

In the end, I'm not sure how well this approach contributed to their overall understanding, although in consolidation after the investigation, many of them were able to make the connection. 

Science Book: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, by William Kamkwamba

Kamkwamba, William and Mealer, Bryan. (2012) The boy who harnessed the wind.”  Arlington, Virginia : Dial books for young readers.

This book tells the true story of William Kamkwanba (born august 1987) , an author and inventor from Malawi, a country in southeast Africa.

William lived in relative poverty with his family of farmers, and was forced to drop out of school after a drought brought hard times on his family who could no longer afford tuition fees. So, William undertook his own education at a local library, where he developed a passion for electronics.  William, inspired by what he was learning about, decided to build a makeshift windmill for his family to power a few electronic devices, which he accomplished with a variety of materials he had on hand.  William’s story spread around the world!  In 2007, he was invited to speak at TEDGlobal, in Tanzania. In 2013, Time Magazine named William one of the "30 People Under 30 Changing The World”.  This picture book is the children’s version of a longer biography he wrote, called “The Boy who Harnessed the Wind:  Creating currents of electricity and hope.” The children's book itself tells the story of the hard times his family encountered, him having to leave school, and finishes with him building the windmill.

This book is an excellent book to use in the classroom. It ties directly into the grade 6 science curriculum (electrical devices) by introducing windmills as simple devices which generate electricity. Also, It is an inspiring story about the ability for individuals to effect change, and have a voice, as such it is a great way to bring social justice issues into the class.  It could used in a cross-curricular manner, incorporated also into language arts, or social studies  (strand B - People and Environments: Canada’s Interactions with the Global Community.)

In 2007, Kamkwamba was invited to speak at TEDGlobal, in Tanzania.