Ready, Set, Science!

The Ready, Set, Science article really opened my eyes to how NOT hard it is to incorporate science in to every day thinking. Actually- this class kind of did that. When I was in elementary school, I dreaded school but I particularly dreaded science. That feeling lasted all the way until well, now. I just never could be given enough time to really understand what was happening and the pressure put behind that understanding- or lack thereof- made me scared of it.
In the beginning of the article, it really just cleared up a lot of misconceptions about what scientists do and some basic principles about the subject. Just as I was starting to panic again I realized there was no need because my science brain somehow came alive fairly recently. For me, it seemed like as soon as we did the box theater experiment, a flip got switched and suddenly I was going all "Beautiful Mind" on everybody but instead of seeing math I saw science. Things began sparking my interest and I wanted to know how they worked. For example, after riding home in my friend's truck, I saw the reflection of all his stuff in the dashboard on the mirror. Why was it left-right backwards? How is this similar to box theater? And then I just KEPT thinking about it. I didn't just decide I didn't care. This is the kind of thinking I want to active in students. Just like in Ms. Martinez' and Mr. Dolens' class in the article, I want to get kids to think for themselves because that is what they will have to do in the natural "real" world.
The kids in the article seemed to undergo the "Think-Pair-Share" strategy. They were given time (very important) to gather their own thoughts, discussed those thoughts with others in a small group, and then presented them to everyone. This allowed for plenty of time to grow in their thinking, edit, and change their minds if they wanted. The best part is... they liked it. They were being scientists even though they weren't wearing goggles and gloves and mixing oddly colored liquids. I think it's so important to open up this world of science to children especially with how rapidly professions in science are growing in our world today. We need those innovative thinkers if we want to be a progressive nation and by living in fear of assessments and drilling test review after test review we are accomplishing little long term progress and going back to the "mile wide-inch deep" learning ways that JUST. DON'T. WORK. By integrating real world experiences with background knowledge and a little free innovation we will be teaching kids a wealth more than what we are now. We just have to believe that they are capable of that.