Daring
Greatly
By
Greg Reiva, Pitsco Corporation TAG Member, Teacher at Streamwood High School, Streamwood, IL
It
is a fact that, given the time and motivation, students can achieve incredible
feats within relatively short periods of time. For years, at school, I have
witnessed student athletes, student actors, and student leaders present
themselves at the highest level of performance, pushing this effort to the very
edge of their abilities and rarely disappointing their audience.
Academically,
this is not always the case. It is a rarity that students are able to truly draw
upon their personal resources and abilities to show greatness in the science
classroom. To show greatness is to be part of an event galvanizing fortitude,
commitment, and personal satisfaction.
President
Theodore Roosevelt once said, “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in
the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood [. . .] [I]f he
fails, at least [he] fails while daring greatly [. . .]” I believe that the
very act of innovative thinking, questioning conventional wisdom, and proposing
new avenues of exploration and scientific investigation encapsulates the
essence of daring greatly in science education.
Robert
Yager, distinguished professor of science education at the University of Iowa,
once compared learning science to the situation of an athlete learning the rules
and mechanics of his sport. An athlete must adequately prepare both mind and
body to compete. The ultimate goal is to compete. In the same vein, students in
K-12 science curriculum will spend years acquiring information, knowledge, and understanding
to do science. In an article Yager once cited the late Paul Brandwein, a noted science educator and author, who believed that the majority of students, throughout their K-12
tenure in science education, never really get to experience the intrigue of
doing real science.
A
revolution in science education would involve capitalizing upon the students’ human
instinct to explore the natural world, proposing questions, following their
instinct into new explorations, and capitalizing upon personal interest and
motivation. It is not about just doing labs in science classes but letting
students design their own experimental methods and assigning independent and
dependent variables while testing their own hypotheses. Giving students this
opportunity to dare greatly means challenging them to step out on their own and
reach for a sense of accomplishment realized by innovative thought and personal
perseverance.
Presented
below is a brief list of a vast array of possibilities available to our
students to break the traditional mold of learning in the science classroom and
become inspired to dare greatly!
Mousetrap
car designs, water bottle rocket construction, robotics innovations, wind
turbine technologies, photovoltaic electric cars, passive solar cooker designs,
fuel cell applications (as a source of carbon-free energy), scientific
investigation into methods of conserving energy and preserving the environment,
developing hydroponic and aquaponic organic herb and vegetable farm.
Long-term research projects, deeply embedded
within the K-12 science curriculum, are an educational methodology bridging the
gap between knowing and doing. Doing projects inspires students to maximize
their knowledge, understanding, and experience, guiding them toward future
academics and ultimately into their preferred careers.
