Teaching Science
Danny Doucette’s Talk
Doucette underscores the importance of imparting scientific knowledge to the learner in proper proportions. The current technological dispensation has provided learners with vast knowledge, which if left unsupervised could corrupt the scientific minds. Such is in a prevalent manner because science teachers lack the proper mechanism to teach the subject. As such, they overemphasize on scientific outcomes instead of demonstrating the processes through which these results are achieved. Students then discern lessons as repulsive, difficult, and incomprehensible.
The speaker also interrogates the assessment methods used by instructors in learner evaluation in sciences. He indicates how question and answer, multiple-choice questions are killing the scientific spirit in the learners. Furthermore, exams manipulate the learners since the students are forced to shelf their scientific ambitions to concentrate on examinations. He proposes that teaching science should be choreographed in a manner that stirs curiosity among the students. Such teaching should be modeled in line with the learners’ understanding of concepts in science so as to build around a model whose purpose is to challenge and or build on conventional pre-existent knowledge. Equally, the assessment of learners should revolve around investigation, experimentation, and critical thinking unlike sit-in examinations and term paper writing. The speaker argues that embellishing practicum of such nature is the basis for innovation.
Jane Turner’s Submission
Turner notes that science should be taught in bouts and not typically as any other discipline. Encouraging children to accept science requires its integration with other disciplines, including mathematics and arithmetic, which create a contextual basis for the teaching and learning of science to the children. Only through contextualization of the scientific knowledge does the learner make sense out of that which is taught to them.
Turner proposes that teaching and learning sciences should be done outdoor more often. Doing so inspires curiosity and an exploratory aspect in the learner. Essentially, outdoor practical learning engages the learner’s brain, hands, and legs. It also improves the earners’ agility, hand-eye coordination, and learning in different environments offering variegated levels of distraction. These environments ensure increased physical and mental activity among the learners. Such activity is the basis for internalization of knowledge through seeking of clarification through interrogating fellow classmates and the instructor.
Primary knowledge is often derived from the learner’s immediate environment. Scientific knowledge challenges the scope of thought and inclination of the learner. A learner centered science lesson should be challenging in such a manner as to incite critical thought in the learner. Additionally, proper comprehension of such knowledge is made possible by punch lines, which are key concepts that help the student to understand such complex processes. Imparting scientific knowledge begins with the instructors, who should have proper command of the knowledge that they impart on the learners. Additionally, they should encourage the students to share ideas. Turner posits that the learners should also be encouraged in the wake of failure as it forms the basis for correction and multi-dimensional approach hence innovation.
Similarities
Turner and Doucette agree that teaching science requires the proper environment, which is elicited by interest. As such, best scientific knowledge originates from the known to the unknown, which then qualifies it as a process. The assessment of sciences should be more accommodative to include more practical, laboratory, and hands-on activities instead of paper based set texts. Moreover, evaluations should be built upon the precincts of the learning processes that include, observation, identification, classification, analysis, and reflection.
Reflection
I agree with both speakers’ perspectives on teaching of science since I believe that their approaches are evidence based and reproducible. The methods can be implemented in a broad spectrum of instruction-giving, including among teaching special needs learners. The complexity of scientific knowledge requires that the instructor to break down concepts into small consumable units for the concepts to be grasped easily by the learners. Besides, learning environments should be varied accordingly to ensure the learners grasp such scientific knowledge which they can apply in their day to day activities. Such improves learning outcomes in science.
References
Danny Doucette. (2017, March, 8). Teaching Science (We’re doing it wrong) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5duz42kHqPs
Collins. (2014, January, 13). Best Practices in Teaching Science https://youtu.be/mmZTNygI8Qo