Supporting Diverse Learners

In Part III of “Letters To a Young Scientist”, the author Edward Wilson talks about his work with ants. Through all of the chapters in the section he returns to the work he did with ants but I pulled out several key topics that I think can relate to the classroom.  The first think that I want my students to understand is that their work should be distinguished. Meaning, that students should not be satisfied with being able to reiterate the ideas that I share with them. Students should look to apply and adapt the knowledge they have to make new observations. Wilson also mentioned that he was originally working in mediocrity. He was reclassifying and documenting ants in an area of the United States. It was not until he had a mentor who asked Wilson why he was classifying ants when there was so much more they did not know about them. Sometimes it is terrifying to work outside of a comfort zone but the zones need to be pushed, sometimes it take a teacher to give the little push.   One

Chapter four of Letters to a Young Scientist by Edward O. Wilson focuses on one question. What is Science? In the chapter Wilson poses the idea of how ants are able to recognize the dead bodies of the other ants and drag them out of the ant hill. How does an ant recognize their dead? Wilson talked about how observations are the basis for the science. He used the observation of ants removing the dead from the nests in order to pose the questions of why, and how do they know dead from alive? I will allow you to research the answer to this question rather than telling you. The point of this chapter that I feel is most meaningful and should be brought into the science classroom is the idea of using observations in order to come up with meaningful questions. “ Because science is the wellspring of modern civilization. It is not just “another way of knowing” to be equated with religion or transcendental meditation. It takes nothing away from the genius of humanities, including the creative

In a state like Maine it isn't a difficult task to find an outdoor space to study is not a difficult task. Expansive Classrooms: Taking Learning Outside by Erin Nicolardi is an article that talks about the benefits of teaching outside and how to get started. Nicolardi lists some different ways to incorporate outside classes into subjects like heath or English but these ideas can be adapted to other subjects as well. One way to start thinking about learning outside is having one day a year where teachers bring their class outside. I love the idea of getting every subject outside for one or more block on that day of the year. This gives students something to look forward to over the course of the year. Some of the ideas that Nicolardi gave were; writing poetry outdoors, storytelling, or Earthkeeping. The ideas given work more in an English/ art class but working outside is essential in a science class. Science deals with the real world and with real world processes, so the best

Innovative thinking is an essential piece of science curriculum. In the article " The Science Classroom Makerspace " by Michael Ralph deals with the idea of working innovative thinking into the classroom. Although the article talks about how to incorporate it into a biology class it is equally important to incorporate into chemistry and physics. Ralph motioned about how there is no way to add in more to the current curriculum because of the time constraint and all of the standards that need to be met. The best way to handle innovative thinking is to work it into the normal curriculum. I think that this is an essential idea, students will understand the concepts more if they are allowed to discover them in their on. The author also spoke about how he couldn't just drop this onto students. Students most likely have not had experience with design processes or innovative thinking up until this point. Ralph said that he would provide some support. In my classroom I would start

When it comes to schools of philosophy I feel as though I identify most with Realism and Idealism. Realism is the idea that knowledge reality and value all exist separate from the human mind. It states that the physical world is the truest form of reality. I fully stand by this statement because in science we have to use only the physical body of evidence to come up with theories and laws. "Realists endorse the use of senses and scientific investigation." This is how realists find truths in their world. Idealism is very opposite of Realism. Where realism values the physical, idealism values the spiritual. Idealism is about how what we see is only our own representation of the spiritual world. The part of Idealistic identity is to value logical reason and even though it doesn't agree with the scientific method I still feel it is relevant in the science classroom. Unless the students I have are going onto be researchers or in the science field themselves the scientif

This is an educational road map. During class we were assigned to find events that would have affected our education. The events I have listed may have shaped my education but in reality I did not notice much change. I am only noticing through my education programs today that teachers have to be highly trained. Most of these events that I have listed also only relate to students of lower class or who may have been at risk students. Something like No Child Left Behind would not have affected me since I have educators as parents and not doing well in school was not an option. It is incredibly beneficial for the students who do not have the support at home. I also put down how there was an adaption to the IDEA. This adaption must have helped many students to get the help that they needed but again, it was not something I would have noticed. Even before the IDEA amendment my mom fought to get my oldest brother tested and succeeded and I have no doubt she should have won for me to be

Within EDU 402 my class brainstormed questions that relate to education and to the three categories of philosophy; metaphysics, epistemology, and axiology.  Epistemology answers questions about how and what we know as truth. The questions that most stuck out to me from this section were; how do we decide truth and who decides truth? This question is increasingly prevalent in today’s society. There are issues with ‘fake news’ where people do not know what to believe because the sources of information that should be reliable are bending to the will of people with things to hide and things to gain from lying. Helping students discern between truth and lie is so important. It will help them to be more knowledgeable citizens and it will help students develop their own ideas outside of their parents’ ideals. Axiology looks at values and morals. One question that I really think I can apply to the classroom is, Where/how did morals come to be? This isn’t something that can be addressed