My identity as a science teacher is always changing somewhat. However, I strive to help students get over their fear of science and help them to see that science is essentially a way of life, an everyday process that they use all the time, they just don’t think about it as science. I see myself getting students to spark an interest in science and seeing the possibilities of science. We need to turn on the possibilities of science for the students in the “middle 80%” who don’t necessarily see themselves going into a science related field because it’s “too hard”. My goal is to get students excited and engaged in science and see the possibilities of science. I think that beginning to learn how to incorporate coding will only help to engage students in science and learning. I think they will begin to learn more because they are the ones manipulating the coding and will become challenged.
Agreed Carrie. I think as they begin to manipulate the code, they will begin to use higher level thinking without realizing what they are doing. I believe this will help them in so many ways when it comes to increasing their thinking skills and analysis.
Amen Ashley! Kids don’t know how to think. I love having technology available, one of my concerns that I have voiced from the beginning is that students will lose the ability to think for themselves because of the computer.
I suppose what I aspire to do as a science teacher is to have my students question their world. Through that asking of questions is the engagement to seek out the answers to their questions. It’s the only way to have them take ownership and work for their education. Of course, that would be in a perfect world. In our realistic world where many kids don’t place education as a priority in their young lives, I try to get students to see that their education is important and necessary to understand the world around them. I like the cross-cutting concepts with NGSS because I think that approaching learning from those themes benefits kids tremendously as the themes stretch across all of the DCIs. Again, the more we can show the connections between concepts, the better students learn those concepts.
I want to be “one of those” teachers who gets (or keeps) students excited about learning. The love of learning is one of the most valuable gifts someone can have. From what I’ve seen/heard so far, the practices outlined here will support that by allowing students to try new things, make mistakes and find solutions. That process in itself is a “reinforcing” feedback loop (success leads to success leads to…)
I would like to get to the point where computers flow seamlessly into the lessons.
As a science teacher I want to share my passion for science and teach my students that by using science we can make the world a better place. Knowledge is power. By using Computer Science in class through modeling and simulation I will make a better connection to real world issues and application. My students will see that they can make a difference.
I agree that the love of learning is a valuable gift. I, too, want to be “one of those” teachers who gets students excited about learning.
I want to see struggling students become more engaged in science.
As a science teacher my hope for all students is that they are able to construct a level of understanding of their world that allows them, throughout their lives, to collect additional evidence, and develop new models that will help them develop solutions to the problems that they must solve. Providing students with experiences where they are able to develop their computational thinking will provide them with one more tool to help form solutions to complicated problems.
I agree with this. Utilizing computational thinking will also provide students with another pathway where they can apply their observations and evidence to solving authentic problems.
As a science teacher I aspire to ignite a curiosity for the surrounding world. I want students to visualize science as something students interact with instead of passively acknowledge. I want students to be curious about anything and then recognize that things are life are interrelated and lead back to science. Integrating cs through modeling and simulation only supports my goals. Allowing students to see things they would have otherwise struggled to see. This would allow them to better see the connectedness of life and the environment and possibly only increase their curiosity.
As a teacher I aspire to be able to guide and influence my students to be critical thinkers, self-reliant, respectful, and have a love for learning. I hope I can kindle the spark that changes lives for the better through my classes.
I would like to be a science teacher that has a classroom lead by students. I want my students to drive the class based on their interests and questions. I would love to have an environment where students can come in and immediately get to work on their projects before we start the daily activities. Integrating computer science and project guts will allow my students to test out their questions and get answers to their own questions without being told that is the answer.
I agree with this. There is a real push to have students drive lessons and learn through inquiry based labs, however I often find that my students want the right answer and they get so caught up on that idea that they do not allow their thoughts to move out of the box.
I see myself as a teacher who encourages students to use inquiry skills to be problem solvers and think like a scientist in their everyday lives so they can explore the world without fear of failure but with an open questioning mind.
As a teacher I want my students to see that learning is a life-long process. Learning new concepts and thought processes should be exciting and take unexpected paths. Learning how to create models and simulations can show unexpected results. This can help my students to become effective problem solvers.
My primary goal as a middle school science teacher is to help my students learn to be scientists. I want my students to enjoy science and be able to recognize its relevance in their lives. From what I have read and experienced so far I believe integrating computer science in my middle school science classroom will help me to achieve all of these goals.
I see this as well in my classroom. I really push the inquiry approach in my instruction. Sometimes my students will never know the “answer” to the investigation. They really get frustrated when there isn’t a “right answer” and have trouble pushing themselves beyond just finding the right answer.
Modeling and simulation relate to my goal in the application of helping my students become effective and curious about everything possibly available to them in the advancement of his or her knowledge level, and understanding of science as I become a more and more effective instructor as each day passes. Modeling and Simulation are tools, just as other tools I will have learned about in these 12 stages, to help me become a more effective instructor of science.