My first distinct memory of science in school would be the monarch butterfly unit that my kindergarten class did. This unit was one of the few science topics that interested me up until 5th grade. I remember very little science lessons between kindergarten and fifth grade, probably because I wasn't very interested in science. Math and Reading were my favorite subjects. In fifth grade, however, my teacher gave us several different projects that coincided with the science lessons. These projects required us to be creative and original--which was something different than in previous years. There is one project that I created that clearly sticks out in my mind. It was during our "flower" unit (we learned all about the parts of flowers and pollination). We each had to create a unique representation of a flower and all of its parts (labeled). I made mine out of different kinds of candy, along with some structural pieces like a wooden rod and some foam. I had so much fun making this flower that I kept it for a few years. I was so proud of all of the effort and creativity that I was able to put into the project, that it was hard for me to just throw it away. Looking back, my fifth grade teacher was really good at making science active. We did a lot of hands-on activities and projects--which made it more interesting (at least for me).My science experiences in junior high and high school, aside from the dissection units, were not very memorable. In both seventh and ninth grade I had to dissect different organisms. I was NOT one of those students who looked forward to science class during this time. I can still remember the queasy feeling that I got when it was time to dissect the frogs or mice. Even writing this memory down makes me a little nauseous. Although dissection was definitely the worst, other topics in science didn't really interest me at the time, which is probably why I would say that science is my least favorite subject.
As a teacher, I don't want my students to be as bored with the subject as I was in school. My philosophy is that hands-on, active, and engaging units are necessary to get students interested. Allowing students to be creative and bring their own strengths to the lessons will help them to better understand the material. This will also help them to get excited for science.
Although my various interests contribute to my negative attitude of science, I believe that my religious upbringing also has impacted this. Science and Christianity have been known to be at opposite sides of countless debates. My parents never told me that I shouldn't like science or anything like that, but when topics like evolution arose in school, I was always on edge. I absolutely HATED being in class on those days, because I felt like I was being personally attacked. No student likes to feel like that. Prior to this reflection of my past science experiences, I would always think about the evolution unit whenever science in school was brought up. This is probably why I always had negative thoughts about science. Every time I thought about it, those feelings of being personally attacked surfaced.
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| Exploring Science |
