As I have been contemplating a focus question for these blog posts, I have realized that I am having a difficult time narrowing down my thoughts to one question, as everything seems so interrelated. However, one of my main concerns as a future teacher is, how can I effectively communicate science curriculum to all of the diverse learners in my classroom? Is there a universal "best" method for teaching science?
If I back up a little, I am almost forced to reflect on all of the literature and studies that have been presented to me in other education classes regarding the effectiveness of teaching through Howard Gardner's "multiple intelligences." In a nutshell, after taking several self-assessments and so on, I learned that I am a certain type of learner, and that in my future classroom my students will be one of these types of 7 (or is it 8?) learners. At first, all this information was like a shining light from above...no wonder why I hated chemistry so much...I am not a "logical" learner...my teacher should have given me a different assignment where I could have written or drawn what I learned. Everything seemed to make sense until I started thinking about my own classroom. How am I possibly going to be able to reach every different type of learner in such a short span of time?
Professor Kruse has provided us with a couple articles on the concept of learning theories, which allude to the fact that as individuals we all learn in the same way (basically, our brains all function in the same manner), but the way that we acquire said information is different depending on our background knowledge and past experiences. Instead of focusing on all these different learning "styles" that I mentioned above, we should recognize the differences in how students acquire information. I love the idea of this...but as a future teacher, I am left a little confused and yearning for some sort of answer (or at least more of an explanation). How am I not going to let my own background knowledge and preferences for acquiring information interfere with giving my students the most effective science education that they deserve? Usually when I have questions like this for myself, I like to think in a more global and historical perspective...what is working (effectively) in other countries (or even in other schools throughout the U.S.) and what has worked in the past, or what has not and has created these "new" shifts in science education?
Since I have been at Drake, I have completed 80+ hours in practicum experiences, but have yet to see a science lesson in action. For those of you that have, what types of instruction have you seen? What effective methods have you seen...or ineffective? And, what do you think about different learning styles?
I love that you chose this topic! I understand what is meant by "all learners learn the same" in regard to the mechanics of our brain. I am still trying to sort out the learning style idea. This is what I've got so far....
ReplyDeleteCurrently, I do believe that students have different learning preferences. I know that prefer to have a visual versus a text and I've seen students of mine who prefer to read rather than use a visual. It has been said that allowing students to work within their learning preference can hurt them because they aren't thinking as critically. This makes sense to me, but it also makes sense that if kids aren't allowed to work within their learning preference to begin with or even once in a while, frustration or lack of motivation may take over.
I do think that the best mode of delivering information to students depends on what your trying to teach and I don't think to many teachers would argue with that.
Since I am focusing on primary grades I have not seen a lot of Science instruction. I'm curious on what this upcoming practicum will reveal.
I think you touched on an important point that we should refocus our attention from how everyone "learns differently" or has a different preferred "mode of learning" to the fact that learners acquire information differently even though the basic "mechanics" of our brain are similar. I am also interested in how to best "communicate science curriculum to all of the diverse learners in my classroom," but unfortunately, I don't think a universal "best" method for teaching science exits. But having knowledge of how people learn, and knowing your individual students will definitely help you in teaching students effectively.
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