Preparing to Identify as a Scientist

After reading my students responses to a brief Getting to Know You questionnaire I learned most had not taken a biology course since 7th grade or longer. This is very common since High Tech High doesn’t offer biology until 11th grade instead of 9th grade like most schools. In addition, most students were unclear what is environmental science. The downfall to this is that students feel like they are behind in their learning compared to their peers outside of HTH, so this lead to some uncomfortable feelings of their capabilities. The upside is that our students are really excited and have lots of questions about biology. This year students are most curious about how their brain and reproductive system works, the effect of drugs on their brain, the specific functions of different organs, and the effects of pollution on their bodies. Their curiosities reinforced my ideas for the content that will be covered this fall semester - the systems of the human body and the effect of the environment on these systems.

My personal goal is for students to leave junior year identifying themselves as a scientist and perhaps considering a career in a science field. I hope they leave my classroom making connections between biology/environmental science and their everyday lives so they can make informed decisions for themselves and their families. So a big first step is helping them be comfortable feeling uncomfortable not knowing biology/environmental concepts right now.

This week I really saw how uncomfortable they can feel when they completed a type of mind map. Usually a mind map is designed by the learner/student to organize the information that they know on a specific topic. This visual map of what they know can be used to study or review concepts before a test or discussion. I began to modify the concept of a mind map two years ago. For students to reflect on their learning I have them complete a mind map at the beginning and end of lesson for students to visualize what they’ve learned about a specific topic over a period of time. I chose the vocabulary within a topic and lay it out on a large piece of paper. Students write down anything they know about the words, and most importantly they try to make connections between the vocabulary words to show deeper learning. They can use visuals and writing to show their learning. At the end of the semester students will create their own mind map on the body system they focused on in The Power Within project.

This week the students completed a mind map for observational research. I was most impressed by how students pushed through feelings of vulnerability and tried their best to make connections and define the vocabulary words. At the end of the activity students realized that not one person knew all the vocabulary but collectively they knew the majority of the words. In the next few weeks I’ve designed experiences for them to learn together. They will document these experiences in their handmade observation journals they made with recycled paper and cardboard. Can’t wait to see how they document their learning and share it with one another. We are well on our way to becoming scientists!