Science for All
In the April
publication of Science Teacher Magazine,
Steve Metz, field editor, made the following comments and observations about
opportunities to learn in the science classroom.
“Improving schools and
providing equitable education for all students.”
“Promoting excellence
and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.”
“Overcoming persistent
academic achievement gaps with ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, physical disabilities, limited English-language proficiency, and learning
differences.”
“Crowded, racially segregated and underfunded
inner-city schools.”
This has
been my mission as a teacher, my motivation to make the most out of every
opportunity delivering the best learning experience for students in the
classroom.
I remember
once when I was in class at Roosevelt University pursuing my teaching certification
and I had constructed an atmospheric barometer out of a coffee can and
balloons. The teacher looked at it and
said that I would do fine as a teacher in the science classroom. I was struck by the feeling
that while I was trying to construct the make-shift science instrument, I was so involved with the process that I forgot that students would benefit from
this. That was when I realized that my enthusiasm
for science would serve me well in this new career. Enthusiasm
for science is the catalyst for great teaching, excellence, innovation and
learning for all.
Focusing
upon the learning taking place in the classroom is an emphasis that brings
great science education to children. This
constant effort to create a better learning environment helps provide more opportunities for students to become inquisitive,
innovative and problem-solving individuals.
Science can
provide the means to connect with student interests, thereby motivating and challenging
them to learn new skills and develop new abilities to perform.
When
teachers implement progressive curriculum initiatives, an
important ideal to embrace is to make this process work by helping students
achieve goals having real-world implications to their lives.
Project-based
science initiatives, within the science curriculum, is the means by which
to get students engaged in learning, while they are immersed in three-dimensional learning environments that Next Generation Science Standards advocate (practices, cross-cutting concepts and disciplinary
core ideas).
The case for
“Science for All” must include coordinated and consistent efforts to meet the
needs of students by being creative, innovative and experimenting with new
learning strategies employed in the classroom.
Leadership on these venues has to emerge from the grassroots as American science
educators explore the means to create meaningful and engaging curriculum
for students in the 21st century.
Across
America we witness a broad inequitable range of resources being provided to schools and students and in many
cases these resources are based upon the social economics of local populations, the
level of wealth within the community and political influence upon how school district boundaries are defined.
It is
necessary for every concerned citizen, every stakeholder in education, every parent of school-aged
children to demand that this process of doing science in the classroom be
consistent with respect to best practices, be fairly funded when providing adequate resources for a modern classroom and embracing new progressive ideas on how to, most effectively, meet the needs of students to learn.
