Mr. King's Science Site

We have all been through an unusual, and trying period.  You have all shown tremendous fortitude, patience, and perseverance in the last year and a half.  You have made history in your efforts to support and protect each other by wearing your masks, social distancing, and sacrificing your participation in your sports, music, and other activities.  These hardships have required you to attend school remotely, and learn how to learn on your own.  Your teachers have been handicapped by the pandemic as well.  They have tried hard to provide you with an education, spending hours making video presentations and developing alternative lessons that you can do from home.  Even so, one thing we have all learned is that remote learning is just not as effective as having your teacher and classmates with you in a traditional structured classroom setting.  Working together, teaching and learning from each other is the best way to learn!  I have seen significant improvement already since I came back last year.  My students seem to have already gained back the progress that was lost during the pandemic years.  In fact, I have noticed a particular improvement in math skills and an increased motivation to learn!  This is your accomplishment!

Conversely, many of us have become dependent on the technology that have helped us to manage our professional, academic, and personal relationships from afar.  The remote world can tend to isolate us, forcing us to deal with learning and solving our problems on our own, often without guidance and sharing.  Some have withdrawn from their peers, immersed in a virtual world presented on a screen that is not truly interactive.  As a result, some of us have lost touch with what really works best in learning science: 1) physically engaging and interacting with each other in teams and a teacher guided by a common cause, 2) physically engaging and interacting with paper books, and 3) physically engaging and interacting with laboratory equipment and apparatus during labs and experiments.  

I will, therefore, focus on these three things in my classes to help you transition from the ways of remote learning at home during the pandemic to an “old school” classroom where everyone benefits from group experiences and face to face interactions with peers and the teacher.  Computers, cell phones, and other communication devices will, therefore, only be allowed on certain days.  On some activities, you will be provided with the technology you will need, and on others, I will let you know in advance when you have to bring your own devices.

With all of my experience, I have found that people learn science best by doing science.    By engaging with each other and using the 5 senses in hands-on problem solving, you will be amazed at what you will learn by the end of the year!