Women in Science

In our science methods class we recently discussed the idea that when most people think of a scientist, they picture a male.  As a feminist and an educator, this is something I would like to change in my classroom.  I would like my students to realize that science is a field that has both great men and great women involved in it.  I believe one of the ways to do this is to introduce students to the concept that science comes in many forms.  Science is not simply chemistry or biology, which is the impression that many young students have.  I think if we expand their knowledge about all of the different fields that are covered under the "science" genre, students will be able to better know whether or not they want to go into something science related, and they will feel like opportunities are more open to them no matter what gender they are.  While doing this, I think it's important to show students multiple representations of scientists.  During different science units in the classroom teachers could bring up examples of female scientists (and not solely the more famous ones, like Jane Goodall!).  Teachers can also tie female scientists into other subjects-- for example, you could have the students do a reading unit or research project on a female scientists.  Of course, in the spirit of true feminism, it's important to remember to have an equal portrayal of male and female scientists in your curriculum, so don't completely throw male scientists out of the picture!  Simply provide your students with an equal portrayal of scientists that will expand their knowledge not only of the field of science, but the people themselves who have made significant achievements within it.

Revised Goals for Students

As a class we worked together to create a revised list of goals for students.  The list is as follows:

1.  Students will demonstrate a robust understanding of content through application
2.  Students will work collaboratively using strong communication skills
3.  Students will be lifelong learners
4.  Students will be creative problem solvers
5.  Students will value and be active participants in the learning process
6.  Students will value and appreciate knowledge across content areas
7.  Students will have the confidence to take risks and learn from experiences

Article Reactions

The first article I read was How to Teach Students to Think Like Scientists, by Eric Brunsell.  The beginning of the article discusses how the activities the author was viewing may have been fun, but they weren’t true experiments.  They didn’t hold much educational value.    And while being understanding of the fact that these “experiments” were based off of Halloween-related activities, the fact of the matter is that many of these activities are carried out in similar forms year round, simply without the Halloween emphasis.  This issue made me relate back to previous class discussions where we talked about how you should never do anything in the classroom that doesn’t have some sort of educational value—for example, don’t just show a movie to show a movie.  If you want to show a movie in class for some reason, tie it in with class material (ex. showing Osmosis Jones while learning about cells in science).

Another aspect of this article that I connected to through our class discussions was the article’s discussion of the scientific method and it’s many varieties and misconceptions.  It wasn’t until our class discussion about the scientific method that I realized I had learned many different versions of it throughout my education.  I was also surprised at just how easy it was to disprove what people commonly think about the scientific method—especially the main idea that science is always a step-by-step, uncreative process that can only be done in one certain way.  The article articulated this well, and our class discussion made it even easier for me to connect with the idea of how flexible the scientific method truly is.

I found the second article I read to be extremely interesting—Why Preschool Shouldn’t Be Like School, by Alison Gopnik.  I knew there was a push for earlier education of children, but I had no idea that it was so pronounced.  I am a big believer in supporting creativity in students, and I often think it is something that doesn’t get enough credit.  I really enjoyed how the article touched on how the demand for more of a direct instruction environment may take away a student’s ability to think for themselves.  I’m glad the studies involving presenting toys to the students in two different ways were included because it made the idea much more concrete to me, and I think that having evidence for this idea really helps to make it concrete to people who may just assume that pushing direct instruction on students early on can only benefit them.  The article makes a point in saying that this method of implementing direct instruction early on in a student’s education may hinder their ability to discover unexpected information and draw unexpected conclusions—that’s a skill they can take with them for the rest of their lives, so why would we want to take that away from them?  When the instructions were presented to the students in a more direct fashion they simply attempted to do what the teacher did, without much curiosity or exploration to possibly find a better way to make the toy do what they wanted it to.  If students come to think that this is the best way to learn they will never push themselves to think outside of the box and find better, more efficient ways to accomplish things.

Goals for my Students

I want my students to...
1.  Feel comfortable coming to me with any issues, whether they be academic or personal
2.  Question the materials I give them to achieve a level of comfort with them
3.  Express their opinions and beliefs (and listen to others)  in a respectful way
4.  Identify why they're learning what I'm teaching
5.  Understand the purpose of the assessments I give them
6.  Understand why it's important to be respectful to others (and to actually do so)
7.  Develop an understanding of content
8.  Comprehend (and perform, ideally) the material to the best of their ability