QUESTION EVERYTHING, THINK OUTSIDE THE 011000100110111101111000

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2013

by Mike Maccarone, Learning 2030 Contributor

As teachers (of science, in my case) we encourage our students to wonder (and wander) through school, through life, with a curiosity about how it all works. From the seen to the unseen, the intuitive to the head-scratching.

We aim to equip students with tools they can use to answer their own questions: make observations, collect data, develop a hypothesis, design new ways to test ideas, compare results with others.

We also challenge students to question common sense, to find innovative ways to solve problems, and to think ‘outside the box’. But, are we practicing what we preach?

Skill vs. content
In the age of digital information and social networking, where facts and equations are literally a click away, the need for memorizing content is far less important than it once was.

A traditional science classroom, where content lies at the center of teaching, learning, and assessment, is no longer enough.

Skills must be at the heart of the classroom and content the delivery system for those skills.

If we turn the curriculum inside out, students are more likely to think scientifically – with consideration, intent, and evidence – rather than merely remember facts.

Scientific literacy can then be more about global citizenship, giving our future leaders, voters, and activists alike the insight and intuition to think scientifically.

An outdated system
Kingdom/Phylum/Class/Order/Family/Genus/Species

Red/Orange/Yellow/Green/Blue/Indigo/Violet

I can still recite them, though if you challenged me to explain the difference between Class and Order I might flee (or at least pretend to receive a phone call and check my smart-phone for the answer). Why do we still teach this way? Why are we holding on to these classification systems, these boxes?

For one thing, it’s easier to test. I can ask a student to write facts in order, mark her paper, grade it, and tell if she is good or bad or just alright at ‘science’. A lazy example, perhaps, but assessment has become a major player in educational reform.

Without data, how can we know if we’re doing anything right? Data can be a dangerous thing if we collect it improperly. Is it fair to use multiple choice questions and math problems to determine whether our students are thinking analytically? In order to truly reshape how we teach, we need to focus on how we assess.

Measuring skills and growth does not have to be a numerical process. Educational data does not have to be quantitative to the extent that public schools might like and teachers’ unions might loathe.

There is certainly value in assessment, especially in providing feedback to students. If we can shift our focus from easily gathered, shallow data, we can redirect our efforts towards giving students meaningful feedback that helps them improve their understanding of science and their approach to learning, regardless of where they may fall on the academic spectrum.

In order to shift the focus of schools from content to skills, we need to consider what we are asking our teachers to do and what support they need.

We also need to agree to measure student success in a more meaningful way.

Thinking outside the 011000100110111101111000*
But what if we take it one step further?

What if we begin to think of science the way a scientist, and not a test-writer, would – accessing and encouraging all of the different connections to the concept we are studying when it fits best in the classroom, and not when it shows up in Chapter 12.

If skills rather than content are brought into focus, if assessment is about feedback and growth rather than facts and percentages, and if sparking curiosity in students is the real nature of a science classroom, how can educators begin to think differently about what and how to teach?

For one, we should acknowledge that the lines between physics, chemistry and biology are blurry – if they exist anymore at all – and that without building in Earth and space studies, engineering and sustainability practice, and technology and its impact into our schools, we will be doing an injustice to the next generation.

For teachers this is can be an uncomfortable idea: I am trained in physics and though I have some background in other areas of science, I couldn’t begin to teach a biology class effectively without help. Collaboration is certainly key in developing new, enriching, and exciting cross-curricular ways to innovate the classroom.

Students don’t think in boxes unless we tell them to
If these students can study the physics of a battery in connection to a circuit, explain the chemical process behind alkaline batteries, and use this as an analogy to understand the role of the central nervous system, develop an appreciation for batteries as a means of storing energy using sustainable resources, and design a system that implements a battery as a power source – well, why wait?

Why take four or five years and four or five teachers to connect the dots?

Students are ready to make connections, to be creative, to apply their knowledge to new ideas. Their lines haven’t already been drawn.

We can do much, much better than boxes if we work together as teachers, within and between our schools, if we utilize technology as a global network of collaboration and resources. If we question our methods and practice what we preach.

Learning 2030 Forum Peer Advisor Mike Maccarone is the Science Curriculum Specialist (Upper School) for Avenues: The World School in New York City

*“box” in binary language