Embedded Files
About Me
About Me
My name is Gabi Ra, and I'm a biology secondary education major. My goal is to become a high school biology teacher, but more importantly, I want to become a culturally relevant mentor figure to students. I not only want to take an interdisciplinary approach in teaching, but want to encourage future educators to do so as well.
What is Interdisciplinary Work and Why Implement it in Classrooms?
What is Interdisciplinary Work and Why Implement it in Classrooms?
Interdisciplinary work is the process of building an integration of techniques from fields that are typically thought of as separate domains. In an interdisciplinary classroom, students can combine methods and ideas from multiple disciplines to come up with new ways to approach an issue and solve problems. A common misconception I feel a lot of people have is that it is hard for two disciplines to come together, especially when a science discipline is involved. I hope that this project helps to eliminate this misconception.
Social Justice in Science Classrooms (1)
Social Justice in Science Classrooms (1)
The article argues that scientific ways of knowing and science education are fundamentally cultural and inherently political. It explains why all students have a right to learn how science has created many social inequities over time and how diverse scientific knowledges and practices can promote justice.
I would take my class to urban communities and try to cultivate their love for the sciences. Afterwards, I would explain how environmental racism can affect affect many different fields in science. I want to become a teacher that can foster cultural bridging to help students recognize their agency to engage in social justice projects.
Why Science Teachers Must Employ Interdisciplinary Science Methods to Save the World (2)
Why Science Teachers Must Employ Interdisciplinary Science Methods to Save the World (2)
Ann Haley MacKenzie explains interdisciplinary science and why teachers should practice this style of teaching. She talks about the results of her research in Perth, Australia, at a school based entirely on interdisciplinary methods. She discovered that the students experienced school as a cohesive place and where "everything came together".
When I become teacher, I don't want my students to come into my classroom from their math class and study something entirely different. I want to find a way for all of their subjects to come together and broaden the concepts of science. I want to provide my students such experiences, just like the the school in Perth.
Why Teach Science with an Interdisciplinary Approach: History, Trends, and Conceptual Frameworks (5)
Why Teach Science with an Interdisciplinary Approach: History, Trends, and Conceptual Frameworks (5)
Hye Sun You studies the history of interdisciplinary education and elucidates the conceptual framework and values that support interdisciplinary science teaching. This research emphasizes a need for appropriate professional development programs that can foster this approach on teaching across the many different science disciplines.
Professor Roni Ellington
Professor Roni Ellington
Professor Ellington conveys her story on the educational disparities within the STEM field, and talks about her story as a black student who had the luxury of being able to engage in rigorous STEM courses. She saw that education was a significant factor in the shaping and upbringing of an individual and wanted to explore the factors that affected marginalized students success in STEM classrooms.
One of the big takeaways from Ellington's TED Talk is that education is more than just knowing your content area, but a way for people to become vehicles for change. In order to do this, students have to foster their interest for science. Because of the number of disciplines within the STEM curriculum, I would encourage my students to explore the many different fields and talk about how they can be affected by environmental racism.
Further Reading
Where Scienceand Social Justice Meet (4)
Where Scienceand Social Justice Meet (4)
Kara Norton conveys the history of scientific racism in her article, and why it matters for people studying STEM disciplines. She writes this in hopes that STEM educators will be empowered to account for gaps and disparities in science education.
I encourage future educators going into STEM to read Nova's article. I think classrooms would engage in more equitable and anti-racist pedagogy if they reconsidered history through a non-biased lens.
Weaving Social Justice Into Science Instruction (3)
Weaving Social Justice Into Science Instruction (3)
Moses Rifkin writes about how shedding light on inequity in science fields bolsters students' ciritcal thinking skills and sense of self-efficacy. He reinforces this idea of implementing social justice topics by going through how his students prepare for class. For instance, he has his students make a report on the biennial Women, Minorities, and Persons With Disabilities in Science and Engineering and practice proportional reasoning, and sharpen their sense of what a fair and just scientific field might look like.
Rifkin's interdisciplinary approach is something that I want to practice when I go on to become a future educator. I think having his students make a report on literatures that explore social justice topic is an effective way to combine the two disciplines together.
Page updated
Report abuse