Initial Vision Statement

Initial Vision Statement

Colby Wegter

When I look at science and my experiences of it, it helps provide me with some ideas for the how I want my future science class to feel. As I’ve never been an expert in the science area and have never been that successful in it there are a few things that I enjoyed about science in both elementary and high school. When I pair my experiences with the Methods of Science class I am taking I’m sure I will be better prepared and more excited to present it to students in my classroom when I become a teacher.

To sum up my science background really only one word comes to mind. That word is average. I would consider science to be one of my least favorite subjects but I would also attribute that to the teaching I received. In elementary my best memories are of Marsville, this is where we were assigned committees in groups of three or four and the entire class was to be a large group that would inhabit Mars. I was on the recreation committee so we created magnetic checkers so that the board and pieces wouldn’t float away in outer space. We also had an egg drop experiment in sixth grade where we put an egg into any device we wanted with hopes that if dropped from a ladder it wouldn’t break. We also made catapults in sixth grade that enjoyed. In high school it was biology and chemistry and the instruction was lack luster. The teachers themselves didn’t seem interested in the subjects they were teaching making the experience less than memorable.

Some of the major components of a science education would be to understand how science can explain almost anything and using real life examples to help students understand. For example, if in chemistry all you do is talk about elements and compounds but don’t apply them or compare them to something in the real world, chances are only the people who want to use chemistry in college will enjoy what they are learning. Also an important component, partnered with ways to make it more understandable, would be making science fun. There are so many experiments that can be done to make kids get close and say, “That’s awesome! How does that work?” It is after you have their interest that instruction would be most effective.

I anticipate that I will teach my science class in a fun oriented way. My goal as a teacher is not to overwhelm them with facts that after I’ve lectured they maybe have absorbed one or two things that I have said. Science is a very visual subject and I personally learned best when I could use my hands and manipulate things or use my eyes to see the actual things that are being spoken of. I think experiments are key and if you are going to have an interesting science class you can’t have one experiment every couple weeks. In my opinion there has to be an experiment every other day at the minimum. This doesn’t have to be a large-scale thing. Even the simplest and smallest visual aid can make understanding so much easier.

By making science fun and interactive I believe my students will be able to not only understand exactly the message I’m trying to teach them but also be able to practice safe and exciting experiments outside of the classroom. By showing why things are, instead of just explaining why things are, students will have a much better chance of actually being able to understand the importance of science and everything that it provides them.