What does it mean to be an exemplary science teacher?
Science is all about curiosity. It’s about observing something in the world and asking “Why?” Why is the sky blue? Why does my cat meow? Why is a day 24 hours long? These kinds of questions are the kind you would expect to hear from children as they explore the world, and they are the same questions that scientists now and through the ages have asked. The thing that makes those questions science is not in the question itself, but in the admitting that you may not know the answer, and then asking “How do I find out?”
Exemplary science teaching is all about bringing those questions, that curiosity, into the classroom. It is about asking your students how they can find out the answers to their curious questions, and then enabling them to do it. Essentially: It is bringing real science into the classroom.
How do we know when we see it?
You may think that any physical science activity in a classroom could be considered “exemplary” because students could be conducting experiments. Unfortunately, most common labs and science activities don’t contain the spirit of exemplary science teaching. We know that teaching is exemplary when students are empowered to ask questions they are curious about and are enabled to conduct experiments to find out the answers.
How will I be an exemplary science teacher?
I think the first step in becoming an exemplary science teacher is mindset. Believing in the ideals of science (curiosity, asking questions, willingness to be wrong) are incredibly important, because if you don’t believe in the value of those things you will never be able to model it for your students. Additionally, a commitment to creating a classroom culture where students and teacher alike can be comfortable in the unknown, exploring together, is important to have.
Focusing classroom learning around inquiry, real science, and curiosity is how I plan to structure my classroom. If a student asks a question in class I don’t know the answer to, I will say I don’t know and (assuming we have time and the question is relevant) we can investigate possibilities for answers together or as a class.
What activities can I do as an exemplary science teacher?
Every unit can begin with an inquiry exploration in the property we are investigating. For example, if the unit is on density we can begin with a lot of materials of varying densities (rocks, pumice, water, oil, milk, metal, wood, cork, marbles, etc.) as well as materials brought in by students, a scale, rulers, etc. Then, students can come up with their own predictions about what will sink or float, what is “heavier” than what, and what the best way to measure the relative weight of each material. Students could even come up with their own way of “standardizing” this measurement. Any question the students have they can ask, any thing they want to try they can try. By naturally investigating on their own the physical properties of these materials, the concept of density has already been taught. When the actual formula for density is then introduced, it would make much more sense than if we had started with a dictionary definition for density, since it would be rooted in the lived experience of the students.
Bringing real-life science into the classroom can look like many different things. One of the ways is to incorporate students’ interests into units where students come up with questions, investigate, and report back to the class. One example I found is a teacher that incorporated her students’ love of baseball and softball into a lesson where students researched and conducted experiments focused on bat materials and the change over time from wood bats to lightweight aluminum. Investigations into things that students are already interested in is a great way to get them interested in science. It also helps students realize that science is everywhere they look.
Another thing that I would like to do in my classroom is to invite people to the class to talk about how their job uses science. Ideally, many of these guests would have jobs or careers that relate to the fields that my students are interested in pursuing. Science is in everything we do, in everything around us. It is magical, and I want my students to understand the importance of science and curiosity in their current and future lives.
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Great post! I really liked how you explained the difference between common labs and labs that use inquiry. I also agree with using speakers, and I plan on using them as well. How will decide who comes in? Will it be speakers with non-chemistry backgrounds?
Hi Lexi, thanks for your comment! For deciding who comes in to the class, I am planning on conducting a getting to know you activity with all of my students at the start of the year that asks what careers they are interested in. I will pull from that list to try and find people that fit the interests of my students, hopefully multiple at once. Obviously it can be difficult to find the exact right person to come in and fit student interest, but I will do my best to find someone.
The speakers don’t necessarily have to have a chemistry background! If none of my students are interested in chemistry from the start, I would rather bring someone else without a chemistry background to teach the class that science is important in ALL of our lives, not just the lives of scientists. No use in bringing in a chemist if none of my students are interested in chemistry or becoming a chemist. They wouldn’t pay attention, and I can’t say I’d blame them. I can’t force them into loving chemistry as much as I do, I just want them to understand that science is important to everyone and learn how to think critically.
There are of course people with a chemistry background that I would bring in regardless of student interest, especially in the case of nobody from my students’ interests being available. For example, forensic chemists I think do a job that most people find interesting. Who doesn’t love solving mysteries and interesting crime cases? Other professionals that have jobs I think are widely cool and often involve chemistry include archeologists, doctors and vets, fireworks specialists, zoologists, food chemists, and environmental scientists.
Wow! I thought the connection to your subject was really interesting and I like how you tied in others with your own ideas. I also think the video encompasses everything you talked about above and was a really great tie in.
I want to expand on your last paragraph, I feel like there have been times where teachers bring in outside professionals and it just kinda flops. So for Chemistry, how would you shape a class out someone coming in and what unit do you think would fit best?
Thanks for your comment Caleb! I agree that if you aren’t intentional about it then bringing in a professional can flop. I think its important to find someone whose profession several of the students are interested in, or someone who does something that students might see as cool. I could I want to focus on finding the science in everyday life, so the professionals don’t necessarily have to be chemists or do something specifically chemistry related, because chemistry is in everything we do!
As for the unit, this could be in any unit. For example a scientific method unit could be applicable to nearly any profession, as many include doing something, collecting feedback/data, and editing the result. If we are in an intermolecular forces unit, I can bring in someone who uses water and water properties in their job. For example, I can bring in someone who deals with water purification systems for the city. This is relevant to the students because most people care that they are drinking clean water.
Shaping a class out of this would involve a bit of pre-work to make sure that the students are engaged during the class. I would introduce the career and generally what they do, why it is relevant to the students, and I would have every student come up with a question to ask the professional coming in. The students could discuss their questions in class to condense them and vote on which questions they want to ask as a class. This would hopefully foster the students’ curiosity and help them to be more invested in the visit.