Philosophy
of Education
“Education
is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
- William Butler Yeats
This
quote sums up my philosophy of education. My goal as an educator
is not to transmit content to students but to inspire students to
think, to ask questions about the world around them, and to seek
out answers to those questions. I strive to make this goal a reality
in the classroom through four major approaches to science teaching
and learning.
Active
learning
I believe that every student should be personally responsible for
and actively involved in his or her own learning. Research has clearly
shown that students who are actively engaged in the learning process,
both hands-on and minds-on, retain a much greater proportion of
what they are taught than students who passively receive information
from their instructors. I purposefully include a lot of hands-on
activities in my teaching to ensure that students are physically
participating in the educational process. Strategies that I have
used to ensure minds-on student involvement include the Five E Instructional
Model and constructivist approaches.
Teaching
for understanding
My goal as an educator is not for students to be able to repeat
information to which they have been exposed but for students to
understand concepts and be able to apply them to new situations.
I encourage students to reason through processes rather than memorize
content material, and the result is generally increased and deepened
student understanding. Moreover, it is critical that evaluation
of student work actually assess understanding per se, rather than
superficial content retention. While it is challenging to design
student evaluations that truly measure student understanding, such
measurements are at least a goal towards which to strive.
Depth
over breadth
Science is a discipline whose knowledge base and fields of study
are ever expanding. Rather than exposing students to a vast amount
of content in a short-term, superficial way, I select a limited
number of science topics that are particularly important and universal
and help students explore those topics in great depth. This depth
gives students the chance to really gain ownership of the content
in a way that will ensure that they retain it, not just for the
exam, but for many years. An in depth exploration of a limited number
of topics allows more time for students to read the primary literature
and conduct their own experiments. This approach also makes interdisciplinary
activities possible, ensuring that students see the relevance of
science to society and to their own lives.
Science
as a process
I believe that the most important thing that a student can gain
in a science course is an appreciation for and understanding of
the process of science. Science is not just a body of information;
it is a process. Science allows us to ask and answer our own questions
about the world around us- an empowering concept! My goal as an
instructor is to see students at NCSSM leave their science courses
with the ability to design and conduct experiments, communicate
research findings, and review and critique the scientific work of
others. The critical thinking skills gained by a rigorous training
in the process of science will clearly serve students across disciplines
and throughout their lives.
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