Ambitious Teaching: Perspective from Two Pre-service Teachers

Reflection:

“Science is a subject that can be taught through everyday life and interesting situations…The first and most important step to teaching science well is to let students experiment.  As teachers, we must allow students to figure out how to get to the answer on their own.  We must allow students the time to think through processes and eliminate possibilities that can be disproven.  We as teachers must make science “problem solving” rather than just facts that students have to memorize. As the facilitator of the classroom, we should treat our students as scientists.  We should allow our students to discuss ideas, predict, experiment, and eliminate ideas.  We should allow our students to think for themselves and then meet back together as a group to discuss their ideas.”

And Comment:

“I like your ideas on how we should run our classrooms. The problem for me, however, is learning how to carry out all of those characteristics with a sense of balance. Sometimes it’s easier said than done. How do we know when students have experimented enough? How do we teach them to be problem-solvers without being too vague in our instruction? How do we determine when the discussion has run dry and that we need to move on. These uncertainties (which I’m sure will come easier with more experience) along with the pressures of meeting curriculum standards and administration expectations contribute to some of the areas where I could improve in my own teaching.”