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You’re a high school science teacher who usually teaches AP courses, but this year the Powers That Be have decided that you’ll be teaching the 8th grade science class. At first you’re disappointed that you’ll have to take time away from your main classes, but then you realize this is actually a fantastic opportunity. All 8th graders must take the course, even if it’s the last science course they ever take. 8th grade science differs drastically from other middle or high school classes, wherein standardized tests loom large. There is no science portion of ISTEP or any similar exam. Your only limitations are that the class meets for an hour a day five days a week for two semesters, and you can’t do anything that will get you fired.
With great power comes great responsibility. For some of these students, this will be the first and only real science class they ever take. They’re at a vulnerable developmental stage, and what you do with this class will frame their conception of science forever. Moreover, you have the opportunity to help them develop skills in applied rationality that American education almost entirely overlooks.
The standard textbook the school ordered is terrible, so you decide to toss that and start from scratch. You want to teach Real Science. The sky’s the limit. What do you do?
Go for it, but gauge your audience first, some parents love a good lynching you know…try asking the right questions of your students, before unleashing reality upon them, the shock of reality could melt their marbles!
First off, I’d go into a segment on formal logic (dressed up nicely for the age group) - leading into the idea of classification according to important (rather than superficial) characteristics. And syllogisms. I’d mention to the kids that this was the way science was done for around 2,000 years, from the Greeks up to the 17th century. Then I’d go into induction with a hit of probability (just basics, try to get across the idea that if you want to know the probability of A and B happening together it’s the product, but sometimes it’s easier to compute the probability of the opposite: not-A and not-B happening - that can be tricky).
With that as a background, I’d go into Newton’s laws. Then into evolution, but aimed at getting across the idea of variation and selection (there are probably a number of fun games that you could come up with to illustrate that).
These kids are probably too young for it, but in high school I would have every 11th or 12th grader read Doris Lessing’s book Prisons We Choose to Live Inside. It gives a very nice introduction into the way that peoples thinking goes wrong.
You’re a high school science teacher who usually teaches AP courses, but this year the Powers That Be have decided that you’ll be teaching the 8th grade science class. At first you’re disappointed that you’ll have to take time away from your main classes, but then you realize this is actually a fantastic opportunity. All 8th graders must take the course, even if it’s the last science course they ever take. 8th grade science differs drastically from other middle or high school classes, wherein standardized tests loom large. There is no science portion of ISTEP or any similar exam. Your only limitations are that the class meets for an hour a day five days a week for two semesters, and you can’t do anything that will get you fired.
With great power comes great responsibility. For some of these students, this will be the first and only real science class they ever take. They’re at a vulnerable developmental stage, and what you do with this class will frame their conception of science forever. Moreover, you have the opportunity to help them develop skills in applied rationality that American education almost entirely overlooks.
The standard textbook the school ordered is terrible, so you decide to toss that and start from scratch. You want to teach Real Science. The sky’s the limit. What do you do?
Start the class with a nutshell intro into what science is and isn’t, and what it can accomplish—its power and what it’s meant to humanity (big and broad). Set a tone. Then, ASAP after the intro, show Cosmos having a discussion session after each episode. It may be best to do that once a week, or it could just be the first month of the class, since you’ve got two semesters.
Actually my main idea is just to set up and show Cosmos. The scheduling just depends on how you yourself can best present/frame it. I’d try to throw in as much pop culture as I could (pop science culture, that is—lots of Sagan and Feynman, Neil deGrasse Tyson/NdGT and Michio Kaku). Word is they’re planning or even working on an updated remake of Cosmos with NdGT as the host. That should be killer!
You’re a high school science teacher who usually teaches AP courses, but this year the Powers That Be have decided that you’ll be teaching the 8th grade science class. At first you’re disappointed that you’ll have to take time away from your main classes, but then you realize this is actually a fantastic opportunity. All 8th graders must take the course, even if it’s the last science course they ever take. 8th grade science differs drastically from other middle or high school classes, wherein standardized tests loom large. There is no science portion of ISTEP or any similar exam. Your only limitations are that the class meets for an hour a day five days a week for two semesters, and you can’t do anything that will get you fired.
With great power comes great responsibility. For some of these students, this will be the first and only real science class they ever take. They’re at a vulnerable developmental stage, and what you do with this class will frame their conception of science forever. Moreover, you have the opportunity to help them develop skills in applied rationality that American education almost entirely overlooks.
The standard textbook the school ordered is terrible, so you decide to toss that and start from scratch. You want to teach Real Science. The sky’s the limit. What do you do?
Spend the entire first class defining science. Help the kids come to a consensual definition (obviously with a little encouragement and focus on the good stuff). Put their words on a large streamer above the board. They’ll remember they’re own definition and probably invest just a little more effort into the work now that they have some control. Then teach the shit out of the class.
I’m sure you’re already aware of the National Science Teacher Association, but they do seem to have some downloadable/online resources for Middle School as well:
Yes, yes! Mostly covered well above and I would just add to teach how empirical methodologies work and teach some Science history and explain inductive logic.
I think the evolutionary sciences of biology and genetics should be stressed early and often,(basics of course) as it affects every single human that has ever been born. It will help the students later in their lives to have a good understanding of human physiology from health and nutrition stand points, as well as what they pass on to their children hereditarily.
Ground the entire first 1/3 of the semester/class in pop-culture items that science has produced to make ‘their’ lives better/easier/cooler/fun.
Devise light research experiments where they research and produce improvements to these items.
Expand in the second 1/3 of the semester/class into traditional science methedology, linking the pop-culture items they’ve been working with to the processes of science that produced them - and connecting the little pop-culture items to larger endeavors (Space Program, anyone?).
In the last 1/3 of the semester/class, I’d do a light, but question-driven survey of fields that previous units have inspired in the children.
Ground the entire first 1/3 of the semester/class in pop-culture items that science has produced to make ‘their’ lives better/easier/cooler/fun.
Devise light research experiments where they research and produce improvements to these items.
Expand in the second 1/3 of the semester/class into traditional science methedology, linking the pop-culture items they’ve been working with to the processes of science that produced them - and connecting the little pop-culture items to larger endeavors (Space Program, anyone?).
In the last 1/3 of the semester/class, I’d do a light, but question-driven survey of fields that previous units have inspired in the children.
For 8th graders tying this in with pop-culture and making it fun and cool is probably the best way to go.
Since the adult life of these 8th graders is going to be dramatically impacted by global warming, I’d devote a lot of time to that subject. We’d read an article in a recent issue of Rolling Stone magazine by Bill McKibben, ‘Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math’ and discuss the fact that the countries of the world are going to continue to burn more and more coal and oil for the next 25 years, no matter what the consequences are. We’d discuss the fact that NASA and other programs have helped improve the efficiency of solar panels, wind generators, geothermal heating/cooling technologies, new batteries etc. but that we are not going to apply those technologies on a large enough scale in time to avert catastrophe. We will discuss why this is so, and why there is a good chance that the Republicans will win the November election, why billionaires are supporting the Romney/Ryan campaign, and why Romney & Co. would make it easier for Big Coal and Big Oil to cause even more pollution and environmental damage.
Remember, you did say that I would not lose my job no matter what the class discussed. True, I could be disappeared. (When a friend of mine was in the 8th grade she went home and told her parents what her teacher said about Nixon and the Vietnam War. All hell broke loose. This was at a time when Kissinger had to explain to Nixon why it was not a good idea to nuke Hanoi. “You don’t want the world to see you as a butcher.”)
Since the adult life of these 8th graders is going to be dramatically impacted by global warming, I’d devote a lot of time to that subject. We’d read an article in a recent issue of Rolling Stone magazine by Bill McKibben, ‘Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math’ and discuss the fact that the countries of the world are going to continue to burn more and more coal and oil for the next 25 years, no matter what the consequences are. We’d discuss the fact that NASA and other programs have helped improve the efficiency of solar panels, wind generators, geothermal heating/cooling technologies, new batteries etc. but that we are not going to apply those technologies on a large enough scale in time to avert catastrophe. We will discuss why this is so, and why there is a good chance that the Republicans will win the November election, why billionaires are supporting the Romney/Ryan campaign, and why Romney & Co. would make it easier for Big Coal and Big Oil to cause even more pollution and environmental damage.
Remember, you did say that I would not lose my job no matter what the class discussed. True, I could be disappeared. (When a friend of mine was in the 8th grade she went home and told her parents what her teacher said about Nixon and the Vietnam War. All hell broke loose. This was at a time when Kissinger had to explain to Nixon why it was not a good idea to nuke Hanoi. “You don’t want the world to see you as a butcher.”)
5min into that you will have lost 90% to Iphones, Ipods, Ipads, and who is hot and who is having a party.
There are some great responses here. I’m particularly pleased with the emphasis on pop science. I think adding some classic sci fi is a nifty expansion on that idea; maybe work with an Asimov short, for instance.
But I want to step things up a bit. Most of the ideas mentioned so far work well as tidbits to make a preexisting framework more effective. They’re likely to increase student interest, but don’t fundamentally revolutionize science education, which is what I’m really after. I know that’s an extremely high mark to hit, but that’s why I came to the good folks at Project Reason. I know this community to be capable of extraordinary things.
I don’t think it’s enough to just tell the students things, even if the telling is majestic. Students can always choose not to listen, and since the class comes pre-framed by being a class, many will do this by default (especially in grade 8). Jobyrne has the right idea in this respect; the best way to get students to engage is not necessarily to appeal to values they already possess (pre-existing interest in pop culture, awesome graphics, skateboarding, cell phones, and shiny things in general) but to get them to invest in their own education by having them generate a large portion of the material themselves.
My initial thoughts toward answering the question myself can be found on the page linked below. I’d really love feedback and expansion on the method to appear here, but if you have specific ideas about individual class sessions (and I hope you do!) please comment on the blog itself. That reserves this thread for more general discussion of overall approaches.
Thanks for the wonderful thoughts. Keep them coming!
I’ll read it over this evening and provide comment, definitely. Little busy at work today, so I can’t let myself get too distracted, no matter how interesting the topic.
Since the adult life of these 8th graders is going to be dramatically impacted by global warming, I’d devote a lot of time to that subject. We’d read an article in a recent issue of Rolling Stone magazine by Bill McKibben, ‘Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math’ and discuss the fact that the countries of the world are going to continue to burn more and more coal and oil for the next 25 years, no matter what the consequences are. We’d discuss the fact that NASA and other programs have helped improve the efficiency of solar panels, wind generators, geothermal heating/cooling technologies, new batteries etc. but that we are not going to apply those technologies on a large enough scale in time to avert catastrophe. We will discuss why this is so, and why there is a good chance that the Republicans will win the November election, why billionaires are supporting the Romney/Ryan campaign, and why Romney & Co. would make it easier for Big Coal and Big Oil to cause even more pollution and environmental damage.
Remember, you did say that I would not lose my job no matter what the class discussed. True, I could be disappeared. (When a friend of mine was in the 8th grade she went home and told her parents what her teacher said about Nixon and the Vietnam War. All hell broke loose. This was at a time when Kissinger had to explain to Nixon why it was not a good idea to nuke Hanoi. “You don’t want the world to see you as a butcher.”)
5min into that you will have lost 90% to Iphones, Ipods, Ipads, and who is hot and who is having a party.
You mean like 90% of U.S. adults? If there’s over 300 million Americans, there might b a ray of hope on the horizon if 10% or 30 million and their 8th graders were interested in this subject.
One of the first questions my class would tackle is, ‘Why can’t every roof in Los Angeles be covered with solar panels? Why can’t every baking parking lot be covered with a canopy of solar panels?’
The answer, we’d find out, is that we can’t afford it.
The next questions would be, ‘Given the ever increasing use of coal and oil, what is going to be the cost of flooded coastal cities, the burning of millions of acres of forest land due to lightning strikes and tinder-dry conditions, the death of coral reefs due to ocean acidification? The spread of tropical diseases northward?’
The next question would be, ‘Why do most people not care? Since we’re talking about a worldwide calamity within your lifetime, a calamity that will dwarf World War 2 in the number of casualties and ruined lives, why aren’t voters and presidential candidates talking about it?’
If 10% of the class was interested in such questions there might be some hope for the future.
