5 ms·

Reading and science

legerdemain 5y ago
Show me a school curriculum that actually teaches how academic science is done today, instead of making students memorize laundry lists of inaccurate and outdated factoids about cell biology, nutrition, psychology, chemistry...
- mlyle 5y ago
  > Show me a school curriculum that actually teaches how academic science is done today, The things I see are stuff like asking students to gather data, fit lines, and derive Hooke's law from scratch before talking about it. Or giving students a pile of LEDs and a breadboard and asking them to figure out how to measure voltage before talking about electrical circuits in depth. Or giving lenses and figuring out how to raytrace before talking about optics. Or playing with adding and subtracting colors and trying to intuit the laws that apply before talking in depth about light. The idea is to building systemic process of observing and figuring out the rules that seem to apply. Does every lab and every unit reach this standard? No, but it's common enough. When I was teaching Earth Science (as a substitute) last year, we read Science News (journal articles summarized at an 8th grade level) articles about current controversies about whether rainfall in the Hawaiian Islands was precipitating volcanic activity, and I had the students argue about the different views and evidence. 6th graders find it hugely entertaining to have a "science fight" about the evidence and then ultimately suggest their ideas for what types of research might be helpful next. After discovering the basics of laws in a subject area and the processes by which we evaluate information, they move on to "memorizing factoids"--- after all, most of them will be consumers of science rather than academic scientists, and there's some basic knowledge about how the world works that it's beneficial for everyone to know. I agree that science is far too often presented as a body of knowledge in education than a process.
  - legerdemain 5y ago
    Really? Do you personally, or any layman you know of, benefit from knowing the Krebs cycle, or whether schist is igneous or metamorphic?
    - mlyle 5y ago
      > benefit from knowing the Krebs cycle Yes! I know about aerobic and anaerobic respiration. I know about the different ways things break down as a result. I can understand why getting a deep puncture wound is dangerous as a result. I can read scientific journals about related topics. I have an understanding of basic metabolism, so that when I'm confronted by having a metabolic disorder I can know what it means. When people talk about keto, I can draw on this knowledge. When we discuss lactic acid fermentation in tissues, and the controversy about whether this is a primary cause of muscle soreness, I understand that too! > whether schist is igneous or metamorphic? I enjoy knowing about the basics of geology, but it's not been of too much utility to me other than recreation. On the other hand, basic geological knowledge is helpful to a fair number of occupations. But the whole point is to expose people to many things so they can find what interests them and that they're good at.
      - actfrench 5y ago
        What about the benefit and joy of learning itself?!!
        mlyle 5y ago
        :D I tend to forget that one, as I'm spoiled by my students to have an already-curious group with the assumption that something interesting is going to happen when they first come into my room. (Maybe not the thing they'd most prefer to do, but at least something interesting).
  - actfrench 5y ago
    Not sure if any of these are used in private or public schools, but they are all top notch. https://www.amazon.com/Building-Foundations-Scientific-Understanding-Curriculum/dp/1432706101 https://www.amazon.com/Building-Foundations-Scientific-Under... https://www.touchpress.com/ https://www.touchpress.com/ https://mysteryscience.com/ https://mysteryscience.com/ https://pbskids.org/apps/play-and-learn-science-.html https://pbskids.org/apps/play-and-learn-science-.html https://www.pandiapress.com/real-science-odyssey/ https://www.pandiapress.com/real-science-odyssey/ https://www.terminaleleven.com/skyview/iphone/ https://www.terminaleleven.com/skyview/iphone/ https://www.tappityapp.com/ https://www.tappityapp.com/ https://tinybop.com/apps/the-human-body https://tinybop.com/apps/the-human-body https://www.wildkratts.com/ https://www.wildkratts.com/

Reading and science

Show me a school curriculum that actually teaches how academic science is done today, instead of making students memorize laundry lists of inaccurate and outdated factoids about cell biology, nutrition, psychology, chemistry...

mlyle 5y ago
> Show me a school curriculum that actually teaches how academic science is done today, The things I see are stuff like asking students to gather data, fit lines, and derive Hooke's law from scratch before talking about it. Or giving students a pile of LEDs and a breadboard and asking them to figure out how to measure voltage before talking about electrical circuits in depth. Or giving lenses and figuring out how to raytrace before talking about optics. Or playing with adding and subtracting colors and trying to intuit the laws that apply before talking in depth about light. The idea is to building systemic process of observing and figuring out the rules that seem to apply. Does every lab and every unit reach this standard? No, but it's common enough. When I was teaching Earth Science (as a substitute) last year, we read Science News (journal articles summarized at an 8th grade level) articles about current controversies about whether rainfall in the Hawaiian Islands was precipitating volcanic activity, and I had the students argue about the different views and evidence. 6th graders find it hugely entertaining to have a "science fight" about the evidence and then ultimately suggest their ideas for what types of research might be helpful next. After discovering the basics of laws in a subject area and the processes by which we evaluate information, they move on to "memorizing factoids"--- after all, most of them will be consumers of science rather than academic scientists, and there's some basic knowledge about how the world works that it's beneficial for everyone to know. I agree that science is far too often presented as a body of knowledge in education than a process.
- legerdemain 5y ago
  Really? Do you personally, or any layman you know of, benefit from knowing the Krebs cycle, or whether schist is igneous or metamorphic?
  - mlyle 5y ago
    > benefit from knowing the Krebs cycle Yes! I know about aerobic and anaerobic respiration. I know about the different ways things break down as a result. I can understand why getting a deep puncture wound is dangerous as a result. I can read scientific journals about related topics. I have an understanding of basic metabolism, so that when I'm confronted by having a metabolic disorder I can know what it means. When people talk about keto, I can draw on this knowledge. When we discuss lactic acid fermentation in tissues, and the controversy about whether this is a primary cause of muscle soreness, I understand that too! > whether schist is igneous or metamorphic? I enjoy knowing about the basics of geology, but it's not been of too much utility to me other than recreation. On the other hand, basic geological knowledge is helpful to a fair number of occupations. But the whole point is to expose people to many things so they can find what interests them and that they're good at.
    - actfrench 5y ago
      What about the benefit and joy of learning itself?!!
      - mlyle 5y ago
        :D I tend to forget that one, as I'm spoiled by my students to have an already-curious group with the assumption that something interesting is going to happen when they first come into my room. (Maybe not the thing they'd most prefer to do, but at least something interesting).
- actfrench 5y ago
  Not sure if any of these are used in private or public schools, but they are all top notch. https://www.amazon.com/Building-Foundations-Scientific-Understanding-Curriculum/dp/1432706101 https://www.amazon.com/Building-Foundations-Scientific-Under... https://www.touchpress.com/ https://www.touchpress.com/ https://mysteryscience.com/ https://mysteryscience.com/ https://pbskids.org/apps/play-and-learn-science-.html https://pbskids.org/apps/play-and-learn-science-.html https://www.pandiapress.com/real-science-odyssey/ https://www.pandiapress.com/real-science-odyssey/ https://www.terminaleleven.com/skyview/iphone/ https://www.terminaleleven.com/skyview/iphone/ https://www.tappityapp.com/ https://www.tappityapp.com/ https://tinybop.com/apps/the-human-body https://tinybop.com/apps/the-human-body https://www.wildkratts.com/ https://www.wildkratts.com/