Science Pedagogical Practices

Vision of the Science Teacher I Want to Be

To me, science is a form of curiosity, and a way of seeing and understanding the world around us. Science is not simply facts, but a way of asking questions, testing ideas, and finding understanding based on what is observed. As I believe that every child is born a scientist, and is constantly exploring phenonmena that they don't necessarily understand, I think its important to not only allow exploration during a science period, but throughout the day using observation, wonder and questioning. I hope to bring this type of curiosity inspired and engagement-filled learning to my science classroom and lesson!

In "A Question I Couldn’t Answer" (Ondricek & Nixon, 2023), the teacher experiences a moment of uncertainty when an unexpected question arose from a student. This reading helped me see that not having an answer right away isn't a failure moment as an educator but a learning moment for everyone in the room. Through this reading and experiences in enacting lessons, I have learnt that a part of teaching and doing science is about uncertainty. Knowing this, I hope to model that not knowing something, and aksing questions about it isn't seen as a weakness but as resilience and curiosity.

Ambitious Science Teaching. (2015). Models and Modeling: An Introduction. https://ambitiousscienceteaching.org/

Ondricek, B., Nixon, R.S. (2023). Case and Commentary : A Question I Couldn’t Answer. In: Jeong, S., Bryan, L.A., Tippins, D.J., Sexton, C.M. (eds) Navigating Elementary Science Teaching and Learning. Springer Texts in Education. Springer, Cham.

Reflection on Science Teaching & Model Inquiry

Supporting Students in Learning Science

Goals for Students Learning Science

Modeling Scientific Concepts:

Support 1: Providing multimodal opportunities using learning stations

Stations can include:
- Drawing Diagrams
- Use of Technological Materials (apps, websites, etc.)
- Hands-On (clay, games, etc.)

Support 2: Using modeling to revise thinking and formulate explanations

Before the experiment, students can draw their initial ideas about the phenomena.
After the experiment has been conducted, students can revise and make changes to their models and see what knowledge they have gained about a certain concept.

Understanding and Investigating Scientific Ideas:

Support 1: Wonder Wall

When students have a scientific question or idea about real-world phenomena, they can add their ideas using sticky notes to the designated "Wonder Wall.
Using these big questions, I can plan engaging lessons that help students discover the answers!

Support 2: Sentence Starters to Guide Inquiry

For students who needing some guided entry points to thinking scientifically, I would provide them with sentence starters.
Examples: "What happens when we change ____?" or "Why does ____ happen?"
This guided inquiry can help students turn their big ideas into testable ones.

Modeling Scientific Concepts:

I want my students to learn and be able to represent scientific ideas using a variety of models.
Examples: Diagrams, drawings, mind maps, use of technology, charts, explanatory models, etc.

Understanding and Investigating Scientific Ideas:

I want my students to learn and be able to ask scientific-based questions about real-world phenomena that can be tested and investigated.
Examples: Why do things float or sink?, Why and how does matter change state?, etc.