Is Connecting with Nature....The Same as Science?
After attending two out of four days of Google Week at the SPDC in Exeter, NH, I have realized how interconnected our teaching community truly could be! How exciting! Amy Catone (a teacher in our district/fearless instructor), suggested that we use Blogger just to see how it worked...
We were also introduced to Google Reader. What a great way to quickly follow pages that are interesting! I soon became a follower of the NSTA blog and came upon an article which summarizes my thoughts when naming this blog: Science is Everywhere!
Often times I am asked to teach a curriculum which is specific, diverse and challenging, however a lot of students have questions about things that we think they already know.
"What is my food made up of? You mean plants have ovaries?! Are trees alive?".... (All from my eighth graders this year).
It's so easy to say, " Didn't you learn that last year? Or we are learning about _______ now, so now is not the time. Or the ever so popular, didn't they teach you anything in __ grade?!" I found one day it was easy to get caught up discussing electrical energy, when during the lesson I discovered that one student's take away message was: that weight loss in its simplest explanation is using more energy to do work with their bodies than is consumed through the calories of their food.
I think connecting with nature is science, at any age! Observing the world, becoming curious, asking questions, doing research, making predictions and creating fact based conclusions are all things that can happen with or without a book. If students are given a chance to ask these questions in a safe learning environment, then the transfer of energy, etc will make much more sense down the road...whenever that may be.
So the goal of this blog is to address the seemingly simple questions we generate in the back of our brains each day and relate them to science. This will reinforce that science really is everywhere!
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