I believe that effective science education is student-led, which requires teachers to be extremely flexible and creative. I believe it wise to begin learning by eliciting students' own thoughts, prior knowledge, or background assumptions. By building collective understanding from there, students feel empowered and educators are given the best chance at correcting hardy misconceptions. This also means that dialogue--lots of talking--is essential. Lessons should be conversations.
I believe students learn best when they are appropriately challenged, regularly encouraged, and allowed frequent opportunities to reflect on their progress towards a clear objective. The role of the teacher in supporting student growth is that of a coach: Teachers create goals for their class-team based on profiles of strength and weakness; they share these goals in a way that kids can understand; they motivate kids to want to achieve and to work together; they remind the class-team of the rules and correct wrongs; they celebrate success as a group; they use resources and tools, including the expertise of the community, to foster growth; they have a come-as-you-are attitude that speaks to desires for authentic connection and genuine skill development.
My goals as an educator revolve around establishing a learning environment that is welcoming, rigorous, and inclusive. In this, my core tasks are to provide opportunities for learning, collect data on the outcomes of such presentations, and hold scholars accountable. I try to make real-world connections as much as possible, and often use present-day college/university research as a beacon for explaining our way forward.
There are a few components to science teaching and learning which I feel support these ambitions quite well. They are: