One Day of Learning Down... how many more to go?

What did I learn about being a teacher, about myself, about science?

After attending one day of classes I have realized I have learned a lot about myself, about what it means to be a teacher, and my eyes have been opened to what the area of science includes. My personal realizations have helped me realize I am in the right program because of the variety of courses I get to take, yet how interconnected all the courses are. Aboriginal people have been discussed in every class I have taken and the short film Two Eyed Seeing  has shown me how important it is to consider the world view of native people and how valuable their views are and the importance of combining my personal views, the views of western society in general, and the views of aboriginal people in order to create a well rounded view of an area or even of the world and how understanding can develop concepts and create ideas that I would have never considered unless I opened myself up to be accepting of other people and their culture.

Until now, I never realized that science was so culturally related, tied to differing world views.  What I remember from my school experiences didn’t involve looking at non-western views, but science was about theory and what one person had shown to be true, and how we could still show the principle at work in today’s world.  The science I remember was very euro-centric and did not focus on alternative views or factor in various world views from different cultures and belief systems. I don’t ever remember discussing an aboriginal view, or even considering different cultural views in the science class, I am sure those views were discussed in social studies or even language arts class if the opportunity arose, but never in science.  This has shown me that even in the past few years education is becoming more holistic, rather than focusing on one subject and one specific part, it is attempting to combine the cultural aspects, the language aspects, various parts of other subjects and teaching them alongside science to ensure that students are involved in their studies and that the classroom is an inclusive one.