Ingrid

I have to agree that science needs to be fun, which is also an argument for labs that are meaningful. As a student, there is a benefit when labs don't turn out the way you thought they would. You need to re-examine what you thought was true about the world and how you believed it worked. Shattering misconceptions, broadening experiences, promoting teamwork and encouraging greater literacy with writing up lab procedures, (especially the conclusion section), are also arguments for labs. But let's not forget that labs are also the foundations for basic content building that is essential for greater understandings of huge concepts. For example, density is a concept that students have difficulty understanding, (I teach 11 and 12 year olds), but when they have a hands-on experience, I can hook back to that lab experience to help them make a connection. When yeast metabolizes sugar in a plastic bag and releases carbon dioxide, making the bag puffy, I can connect it to the carbon dioxide cycle on this planet. Bottom line- science can be interesting and teach important content. Creativity and knowledge on the part of the teacher are important. An educator must always be able to explain why he or she is doing the lab. How does it connect to the bigger goal of creating scientifically literate as well as just plain literate students? I'm now getting off my soapbox. Ingrid

Of course I thought of this immediately after I sent my last posting. I believe there's value in getting a view of one's culture from someone outside of that culture. Listening to the BBC's coverage of American politics/news gives me a slightly different flavor than American coverage. Often what a group omits to mention in a news broadcast is as telling as what they do mention. Perhaps it would be valuable for texts to be written by individuals from outside a country who may not carry the subtle prejudices or biases that are passed down to generations within a region. While I'm here, does anyone have any good resource sites about Virginia Woolf? I find her life to be interesting. I've read at least 5 or 6 different biographies of her, each with its own focus (her lifelong struggles with mental illness, her writing, her relationship with her sister, her relationship with Leonard Woolf, etc.). Ingrid

John- isn't it interesting how personal a subject like history can be? My mother was born in 1939 in Germany. She has shared some of her memories with me, but does not want to speak or read about the Holocaust. I don't fully understand it, but I think that she feels that the suffering of Germans during and after the war does not get acknowledged or the same publicity as the suffering of Jewish people. She's a rational woman, not racist or hateful by any means, yet when this subject is mentioned, her emotions, based on her own loss and suffering, kick in. I wonder if this also happened with the relatives you mentioned in your response? I have not travelled much in the South, yet I know that names such as Robert E. Lee, Nathan Bedford Forrest and Stonewall Jackson still carry much weight there. What I have not explored much, (and am unsure even how I'd begin), is why an event that happened so long ago, in this case with no living survivors of the event around to fuel the flames, can still affect a region and its people to the degree it appears to in the South. I think there must be a psychology angle here, don't you? Thanks for the websites. I will explore them today. Ingrid

John- Your question I quoted above intrigues me. I teach sixth grade (11 and 12 year old students) in what would be called "The North." American history texts feel the need to be very cautious with how they treat the Civil War because they want to sell their texts all over the U.S. I was speaking with a colleague the other day who stated that she felt textbooks are positively biased towards the North. I'd like to hear others respond to John's question about how countries with a divided past treat the issue in their texts and if they perceive a bias towards one side or another in their texts. Incidentally, I had a friend from Louisiana who never called it the Civil War- he said "The War of Northern Aggression" or "The War Between the States." I remember experiencing shock the first time I heard it called that. Ah, perspectives! Ingrid

I'm a sixth grade teacher (11 and 12 year olds) in the states and am reading your discussion with interest. In my school we have done a lot of thinking and talking as science teachers about what real learning in science looks like. Some realizations we have had about science, hands-on experiments and assessment 1.There are too many topics in science for any one teacher to fully teach any student. We have divided our year into trimesters, where we look at matter one trimester, life the next and energy the last. We use FOSS kits, which follow national standards. They have their drawbacks, but definitely focus on challenging student thinking and forcing them to back up their thinking with experience. 2. Perhaps dealing with one idea in-depth as opposed to many ideas in small ways is important. We try to look at content through the ideas of systems thinking and make a point of giving students experiences with changes in scale and time. 3. The lower grades are places for students to acquire some of the fundamental ideas about their world and how it might work. These fundamentals are the foundation of the work you do at the higher grades. I'd love to hear what concepts/skills you wish students have more experience with in order to better prepare them for your classes/content. 4. Hands-on labs are a pain for teachers, but they are of value to students. Those learners who take in ideas best kinesthetically gain here, while those who aren't "doers" don't suffer that much. Many of my students who are identified with learning difficulties excel at lab work and are some of my most creative thinkers. 5. Finally, thanks to whoever nodded to the creative thinkers. They have contributed the most to science and scientific thinking, and may not have done that well on their higher level science exams! Ingrid