Week 11: Matter

What did you learn this week?

This week, I learned more about the exploration of science through the lens of a young student.  I saw how young people are curious and full of questions, making the job of a teacher one of fostering that curiosity rather than filling students with knowledge. We explored this concept by doing a few stations, and looking at how matter behaves and interacts with other things. 

How can you apply what you've learned to your teaching in the future? 

The principles we learned this week are able to be applied to much of our science teaching in the future, centering on discovery and curiosity. Something that stuck with me was the main idea that students can and should leave our classroom with more questions than answers, which is a sign of good science instruction. Eventually, we can answer the questions, but students' own natural discovery should be nurtured.

What are new or remaining questions? 

How do we enable students to question the work they do, and what do we do when they really want the answers?