Science: I wish I could teach in the 70s!

Science class, since the zoo, has been fantastic as usual.

I’m really enjoying the inquiry based learning and identifying productive questions as opposed to relying on the “why.”

We prepared life science activities to teach to our class, which was so fun. We broke out the microscopes and really delved into the materials. We saw some amazing things. John Henry presented an activity involving a Magnolia tree on the south campus—and what a fascinating plant! It’s pollinated by Beetles, say what? That caught me off guard. Maybe this common knowledge to people, but I was never interested in science growing up and didn’t make much of an effort to really understand or remember the information. There are so many amazing things out there in our world, and as a future teacher it seems extremely important to bring the real-life-vibe to the classroom (Oh, hello Dewey—yes, some of your ideals are still relevant today!)

Ashley's activity: Parachutes

Kip, our wonderful science professor, spent one morning showing a slide show of pictures from his elementary teaching days. Teaching in the 70s? What a riot! His pictures and stories were fantastic. The school he taught at would be the equivalent of a charter school today. So, I suppose that allowed for a little leeway in his teaching flexibility—but my, oh my! He did some great things!

His kids dug for fossils, visited old forts where they were taught how to shoot guns, hung out in bars (while “examining mirrors” uh huh..), and other such shenanigans.

Kip is soon leading a trip to Costa Rica, meaning our first term of science ends tomorrow. Knowing that this is our only class under his instruction is quite sad. I feel as if we will all be better teachers after taking his class. I feel so privileged at this school!

Did I mention Kip is fantastic? He walked into the room carrying this little snake, saying "I walked outside and he was by the door... So I thought, I better take him in." Yes, Kip wrangled the snake and brought him in for so inquiry-based observations, of course. We named him/her Jasper(ina)

That's all for now on the science front! Without reproducing the activities here, there's not much more I can say!