Galileo:
Galileo uses a
‘dialogue’ between three men to illustrate the idea of and initial
misunderstandings with uniform and accelerated motion. Through Salviati,
Galileo demonstrates the relationships between displacement, velocity, and
acceleration using a variety of examples. Simplicio shares common
misunderstandings and allows Sagredo and Salviati to explain why Galileo’s
argument is sound. Galileo makes a precise stepwise argument with clear
definitions and thorough explanations to avoid confusion. These kinds of
‘dialogues’ between students still exist in modern science; this ‘dialogue’
reminds me of students collaborating and discussing possible ideas behind a
scientific concept. The ‘dialogue’ could just as well be concerning theories of
DNA replication or the relationship between a protein’s structure and its
function. With respect to Lehrer, it is interesting to wonder how these
‘dialogues’ can fit into a lesson embedded with scientific inquiry. Student
collaboration can and should be an essential part of student inquiry, which can
be accomplished in a group setting.Thinking in the future when I will be
teaching, it is necessary to mirror Galileo’s clear arguments in my future
lessons. Student understanding requires arguments with clear definitions and
thorough explanations between each logical step. Without these criteria for
lessons met, students are likely to fall into common traps of misconceptions
that could have been avoided with deliberate and careful instruction.
Hazen &
Trefil:
Hazen and
Trefil outline the discoveries of some great scientific minds, from Newton to
Kepler, and how these different scientists influenced each other across time
and space. I find it fascinating how each scientist built upon the ideas and
discoveries of the last to lead to Einstein’s ultimate revelation of the
general theory of relativity. I also find it interesting to think of how
science is socially situated. Hazen and Trefil mention how science provide
definite quantitative knowledge, but it cannot be denied that many other
disciplines, from literature to music, offer knowledge, albeit of a qualitative
type.With respect to Galileo, it would be very helpful for student
understanding to design and implement an experiment of student inquiry that
investigates a principle investigated possibly hundreds of years ago by great
scientific minds such as Newton and Galileo. It would be interesting to design
an experiment for students to derive or at least contemplate the laws of motion
or gravity in the context of their discovery, i.e. trying to forget all modern
knowledge of these now explained phenomenon. In the future, I recognize
that it will be important to teach the history of notable biological
discoveries, from the discovery of the microscope and the first microscopic
organisms to the elucidation of DNA structure.
Lehrer:
Lehrer argues
that the goal of school is to create an environment in which learners can be
actively engage in the types of practices that practicing scientists use in
daily life, including modeling and inquiry based learning. This view of the
goal of school creates a situation dependent on the teacher’s ability to lead
and design student inquiry based lessons and experiments. This school goal also
heavily favors kinesthetic learners while leaving auditory and visual learners
at a possible disadvantage. As a future teacher, I plan to be able to design
effective experiments that promote student inquiry and to teach biology with
representational models and analogies. It is important that I remember that learning
is a lifelong goal that I can continue by developing professionally and by
learning from other teachers and students. Although science isn’t often taught
with engagement to inquiry and rather often taught in its final form in more
traditional lectures, I plan to involve a healthy mixture of both forms of
education in my future classroom.
