Advancements in science are happening every day: Medical advancements, discovering new distant planets, the latest technology. Historical events are occurring all around us, changing the world dynamic. These incidents, milestones, and sometimes tragedies should not become part of the backdrop but integrated into the classroom dialogue and used as a way to connect students with a global perspective. These situations may seem distant and irrelevant to students but we need to bridge the gap and bring them into focus. Students need to feel a part of something bigger, a global community, a world stage, the human species. empathy comes from understanding and as a teacher we need to bring this perspective into the classroom.
Rather than a stare, disbelief, feeling there is nothing we can do, we need to instill in our students an appeal to get connected. To seek ways to make the world better. We can do this by finding stories of real people doing real things. Not just scientists in a lab, astronauts in space, or famous people using their voices to bring about change, but also kids around the world in small villages of Africa, inner city schools in Los Angeles, and suburban schools of Boston. What do all these students have in common? A recognition of purpose, a drive to improve the world and a determination to do so. Change is happening because individuals young and old have chosen to do so, to sacrifice for the common good. This curiosity, innovation and motivation is what we need to be fostering in our students. We need to be leading students to independence and individuality. We need to be providing them with problems to solve and let them take it from there.
The best tool we can provide our students is choice and creativity. In my classroom I use many different resources for students to read, interact with, and share stories of achievement. Science News for Students, Science World, DOGO News, Rice University Archives are all amazing places for students to read about science advancements. the more they read about science the more they will connect to it and understand its importance. My students participate in many science competitions Future City and city of the Future Houston 2050, both of which require engineering, math, writing, performing a speech, design, and building a model. Both are STEAM driven and provide an opportunity for students to investigate how science is used for innovation. How science is used to improve our lives and how it will shape the future.
Finally, I have students read case studies about world issues from lack of clean water, outbreaks of disease, food shortages, and loss of habitat. Then students conduct research to help solve these issues, write a paper, and share their findings in a speech. For this PBL I often team with ELA. This allows more time for a deeper understanding of the articles and research and more time to write research papers. The speeches are given in science class and we use them as a spring board into our ecology unit. Collaborating across the curriculum is a great way for students to make connections and understand the importance of world issues and collaboration in solving them.
Scientific inquiry is a critical thinking path that every student needs to follow. A destination and a journey all rolled into one package. Current events should never be glossed over, they should be embraced and used as a learning tool. The more we feel connected to the global community the more compassion and empathy we feel as humans. Tragedy should not be limited to those local but felt by all, that is the way change occurs. When we climb to the mountain top to peer out on all of existence we do not feel isolated and alone but integrated and our purpose is revealed. Students need to feel this too. Not just on the internet but in the tangible, relevant, meaningful world in which we all exist.
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