{"id":379,"date":"2017-10-20T20:19:58","date_gmt":"2017-10-21T00:19:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/edt431-531\/?p=379"},"modified":"2017-10-20T20:20:27","modified_gmt":"2017-10-21T00:20:27","slug":"a-letter-to-future-chemistry-teachers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/2017\/10\/a-letter-to-future-chemistry-teachers\/","title":{"rendered":"A Letter to Future Chemistry Teachers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Perhaps the most helpful article I have ever read pertaining to my future as a chemistry educator was &#8220;Advice to My Intellectual Grandchildren&#8221; by J. Dudley Herron.\u00a0 Herron worked as both a science educator and as a researcher of the best way to teach chemistry, and because of that his words have both inspired me and given me endless amounts of thoughts and ideas as I prepare to embark on my own journey into the science classroom.<\/p>\n<p>One aspect of this journal in specific that I resonated with was his statement that\u00a0<strong>chemistry educators work within two cultures<\/strong>.\u00a0 That is, chemistry educators have to draw from the humanities side of things (such as child psychology and sociology) along with the subject of chemistry itself.\u00a0 Anyone who has gone through a science education program in college can attest to this&#8211;life is a balance between science classes that you share with pre-med and engineering majors and psychology classes you share with other educators and speech pathology students.\u00a0 It&#8217;s a delicate blend, but it&#8217;s crucial; as a chemistry educator, we have to have a solid comprehension of chemistry itself along with an understanding of how our students&#8217; brains are working.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michaelseery.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/WordleofUChemEdTitlesVol1-8-e1321889752605.jpg\" alt=\"Image result for chemistry education\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Herron spends a large portion of this essay discussing the topic of\u00a0<strong>constructivism,<\/strong> which is where I&#8217;ll focus most of this blog post.\u00a0 Here are his key points:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>It&#8217;s physically impossible to transmit an idea into someone else&#8217;s brain.<\/strong>\u00a0 This seems like a, &#8220;Well, duh!&#8221; kind of statement, but think about it&#8230;how many teachers have you had who adopted the mentality that students are a &#8220;blank slate&#8221;, waiting for knowledge to be poured into them?\u00a0 This concept is\u00a0<em>literally<\/em> insane.\u00a0 Impossible.\u00a0 Laughable, actually.\u00a0 We can speak or motion or write down our thoughts but\u00a0<em>nothing<\/em> can take a whole, complete idea and make it transfer completely into a student&#8217;s brain.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Constructivism is simple and easily accepted as an IDEA, but when we have to actually implement it we run into problems.<\/strong>\u00a0 Many people love the idea of constructivism itself, and think, &#8220;Oh, yeah!\u00a0 I want students to construct their own knowledge!&#8221;\u00a0 Then they proceed to go on lecturing and giving cookbook labs in the classroom, leaving us all scratching our heads and wondering what happened.\u00a0 It&#8217;s simple, actually&#8211;we make assumptions of others&#8217; brains and comprehension and\u00a0<em>act<\/em> like we can transmit knowledge.\u00a0 For example, I&#8217;m assuming that you all can read and understand English, and I also assumed that you know what constructivism is without giving a definition right off the bat.\u00a0 So indirectly, I&#8217;m trying to give you my knowledge on the subject without allowing you to fully construct your thoughts&#8230;let&#8217;s change that, shall we?<\/li>\n<li><strong>What the heck is constructivism?<\/strong>\u00a0 Take a guess from the root of the word&#8230;construct, right?\u00a0 Constructivism is simply the theory that we all construct our own knowledge of things based on experiences.\n<ul>\n<li><em>What are some examples of constructivism you&#8217;ve experienced in your education?\u00a0 Leave your responses in the comments below!<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Constructivism is impossible to avoid.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Herron put it extraordinarily well in his advice to us future chemistry educators:\n<ul>\n<li>&#8221; the signals we receive through our ears, eyes, and other sense receptors are <em>necessarily<\/em> processed by our brains under the guidance of <em>existing<\/em> mental constructs\u2014declarative knowledge, attitudes, reasoning patterns, intellectual habits, and the like\u2014each of us is highly susceptible to misunderstanding what we are \u201ctaught.\u201d It is implications of this kind that have made constructivism a powerful influence on chemistry education.&#8221; (Herron, 2008)<\/li>\n<li>Essentially, Herron expressed time and time again throughout this paper (and many of his other works) that\u00a0<strong>all of our understanding of the world is constructed in our heads.<\/strong>\u00a0 If this is the case, it is completely ludicrous to think that we can avoid utilizing constructivism in the chemistry classroom&#8211;it is, in fact, the\u00a0<strong>only<\/strong> way we learn.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>One of the biggest focuses regarding constructivism that Herron had was addressing the laws of nature.\u00a0 Constructivism is supposed to be constructed based off of experiences and observations of the natural world&#8211;so why do we have the &#8220;laws of nature&#8221; as a strict set of knowledge being taught in chemistry and physics classrooms?\u00a0 Laws of nature are, in fact, abstract knowledge of relationships that are independent of the objects themselves&#8211;you can&#8217;t just walk around in the park and stumble upon a law of nature.\u00a0 Herron says that this is because &#8220;knowledge is constructed, but it&#8217;s not\u00a0<em>just<\/em> a construction&#8211;learning involves the interaction between our existing schemas and sensory perception.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thonyc.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/05\/newton.jpg?w=500\" alt=\"Image result for newton and apples\" \/><\/p>\n<p>So yes, Newton&#8217;s laws were based off of an apple&#8211;but do his laws describe apples?\u00a0 No; they describe the relationship between objects and gravity, so rather than a physical construction it becomes logomathematical knowledge (as put by Piaget).\u00a0 Or, more simply, it&#8217;s experienced based knowledge rather than physical observation, and it&#8217;s a law that can be shown to students so they can construct the relationships themselves based on their own observations rather than being told, &#8220;This is Newton&#8217;s third law&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Now,\u00a0<strong>how can we use constructivism in the chemistry classroom?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Here are some ideas:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">How <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/teachers?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#teachers<\/a> can use Constructivism in their instruction <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CmJqjYJad4\">https:\/\/t.co\/CmJqjYJad4<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; CYPHER Learning (@cypherlearning) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cypherlearning\/status\/921496553784832001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 20, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Use laboratories and hands-on experiences to allow students to explore a subject, coming up with their own ideas on relationships between objects.<\/li>\n<li>Utilize PhET simulations (link here:\u00a0https:\/\/phet.colorado.edu\/en\/simulation\/isotopes-and-atomic-mass) to let students play with molecules and see how they behave during situations.<\/li>\n<li>Have students come up with definitions for things (guide them, but let the definitions be their own wording).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Use students&#8217; backgrounds to impact their learning.<\/em>\u00a0 Students come from all different backgrounds with all different experiences, and this will have a direct impact on how they learn.\u00a0 Use this to your advantage!\u00a0 Engage and connect with your students based on what they already know and what they experience outside of school daily.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Constructivism is essential in the chemistry classroom.<\/strong>\u00a0 If you don&#8217;t believe me, just read Herron&#8217;s article yourself&#8211;he offers incredible advice for future educators, along with a plethora of research to back his claims regarding constructivism&#8217;s positive impacts in the classroom.\u00a0 Have any other thoughts on this?\u00a0 Leave them in the comments below&#8211;happy teaching!<\/p>\n<p>-Naomi<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Herron, J.D.\u00a0 2008.\u00a0\u00a0<em>Advice to My Intellectual Grandchildren.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Journal of Chemical Education, Vol. 85 No. 1.\u00a0 Accessed via\u00a0http:\/\/pubs.acs.org\/doi\/10.1021\/ed085p24<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Perhaps the most helpful article I have ever read pertaining to my future as a chemistry educator was &#8220;Advice to My Intellectual Grandchildren&#8221; by J. <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/2017\/10\/a-letter-to-future-chemistry-teachers\/\" title=\"A Letter to Future Chemistry Teachers\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2138,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[51,47,15,11],"class_list":["post-379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-constructivism","tag-chemistry","tag-constructivism","tag-education","tag-science-teacher"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":380,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379\/revisions\/380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}