We all have that one class where we can remember every little detail. The class was enjoyable and yet you were still able to learn a plethora of information from it. For me that class was Animal Behavior and exemplary teaching made it memorable. Exemplary teaching is a style that uses differentiated instruction and open inquiry to allow students to make lessons their own. Differentiated instruction allows students to learn in a way that best suits their educational needs. For my class our teacher taught us the basics of research through a number of different mediums and then lead us to form our own research topic through open inquiry. With open inquiry the student is able to ask the questions and then do the work to seek out the answers. This method allows the student to be the architect for their own learning. For this class my open inquiry dealt with the flight initiation distance of grey squirrels across an urban/rural gradient: I walked up to squirrels and measured how close I could get before they ran away. This might not sound fun to you reading this, but for me I was able to learn about something that interested me and really take control of my education while my teacher provided guidance along the way. I have not had a class since then that I have been able to retain as much information, and that is why we need more examples of exemplary teaching in science classrooms. "Hands-on teaching" is not enough, we need to see students in the classroom asking thought provoking questions and using lessons from the instructor to go out and answer those questions. There is not much in school that really prepares us for the real world as much as we need, but as instructors we can make sure students are prepared to not be content with completing the "fill in the blank" worksheets of life. We can give them the tools to question how the world works and make a difference.
3 Comments
Mary Beth
9/2/2015 11:51:14 am
Hey, this was a really insightful post! I liked how you tied in a personal experience to this post. By the way, what was the outcome of the study you did, which population of squirrels had a greater flight initiation? But anyway, if I cold offer one piece of advice, maybe break up your paragraph with some more pictures. The main paragraph seemed a bit long and since I am reading this on a computer screen, I lost my place a few times from going back and forth.
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Greg Hubbard
9/2/2015 07:21:11 pm
Ryan,
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dr ann
9/9/2015 04:37:17 pm
Squirrels! I never expected to read an intriguing post about exemplary science teaching with squirrels front and center.... but you showed just how powerful this sort of learning experience can be and the "sticking power" that it has....
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April 2016
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