Reflection:
Project 2: Reflection
My student, Diego had a very interesting perspective of how science works and functions. The first idea that came to mind when I asked what science is he said was rocks and how he likes to collect rocks. Diego found out from a book his mother gave him that some rocks hold gems inside them. He told me how he has to chip away at the outer shell layer to be able to determine if there is indeed a gem inside. By using what he said in the I can determine that my student is a very hands on learning when it comes to science. This can be shown by him reading the information and taking what he learned to apply it on his hikes where he found rocks and broke them open to see the inside portion where a gem might be hidden.
When it comes to my own science learning experiences I tend to be a visual learner. For example when I was in high school my teacher would give the class tons of reading that had to do about science however with that my brain was unable to comprehend the different connections of how all the different elements of science worked together. On some days though the teacher would ether demonstrate an experiment or have use do the experiment ourselves or watch a video on it; all of these strategies helped me gain understanding of the science concept of knowledge as I was able to see and be hands on. In my teaching I hoped to be able to allow my students the opportunities to not just learn from a text book but more importantly be able to conduct their own critical thinking of the subject matter by doing hands on experiments. The difficulty with this is that some experiments can be to dangerous for the students themselves to conduct and/or the school might not be able to have the money for supplies for different science experiments so instead I might have to show case science videos in my classroom instead in some cases and have the students discuss what they saw afterwords. By allowing the students to conduct their own experiments of trial and error they will learn critical thinking, teamwork, determination, strategy, and hopefully a respect for the world of scientific knowledge. For example during the only experience that was conduct the week we met out husky buddies about the water molecule cycle my student had a hard time gasping the idea that one molecule could end up in many different places over time. However as we walked around the room visiting many different stations as where the die number said for us to go I could see the wheels turning in his mind that he was being to get the concept down.
The word culture means from the google definition of it “the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively.” Culture is made up of two different categories. Category one is how culture is visually seen for example clothing, food, speech, etc.Category two is how culture is with in us for example how someone grew up, how we view ourselves, etc. In science as well as any other subject culture need to be taken in consideration as that it can effect the out come of any conclusion to the experiment. Culture brings a different perspective to the situation that others from a different culture might not understand. Another thing about culture is that it can be a hindrance in some regards as to the fancy scientific words being used might not have been in some of the students main language if english isn't their first primary language.
The readings talk about bringing the world around them into the classroom and how the world has a big influence on how the students learn and comprehend science. Students can do more science work outside of the classroom then within the classroom as the world has more resources then the classroom materials are able to have usually. For example the students are able to look at the stars at night when they are at home but can not do this within the classroom because school is held during the day. Another example is that the they can go on nature walks with their families and friends however it is hard to schedule a field trip for that purposes. A third and final example is that students can witness the way a parent or themselves put together a recipe of bread to see how the yeast makes the bread rise whereas inside the classroom there usually isn't a oven.
I was surprised by how my student viewed science right away in the for of the nature around him (trees, rocks, plants, animals, weather). I had expected my student to say something about bring two different things together to make an explosion happen for example soda and mentos. I hadn't expected to learn that he was super excited to learn more about science and what made it tick though this made me very happy to find this out. As a future teacher I will use many hands on experiments and visuals to help my students as well as making sure I have clear directions that my students can refer back to doing class time. Questions I have are how to make sure that the experiments will fit in the time frame of the class? How to make sure that they experiments have something that will interested all my students?
Source:
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/culture