Final Reflection for ESCI 310

This class has taught me a lot about science education.  Whether it is how to complete an experiment, how to plan a unit r a lesson, or how to incorporate aboriginal content into my science classroom. This class has shown me so many examples of different things to incorporate into my classroom, whether it is the outdoor activities from the Project Wild manual, to the variety of engagement activities that I can simplify or extend in order to use in my classroom.

I think two of the largest lessons I learned through this course are that science doesn’t have to be scary and everything you do can make a difference to your students. Science used to be an intimidating subject area for me with lots of labs and equipment required to complete the experiments as well as a lot of set up time and preparation going into each activity.  While being prepared and having things set up before the class starts are important, I realized the equipment required to complete an experiment doesn’t have to be fancy or complicated. Using household items from Dollarama is a great idea because it’s cheap and easy and very inexpensive.

            I like to believe that every teacher can have an impact on their students’ lives, it just depend show much you are willing to work with your students and help them as individuals.  One video that showed the impact that one person can have on many people is shown below.  It is with David Suzuki’s daughter and what she taught some world leaders about saving their own environment and being conscious of what they are doing to the world not only their world, but the world for their children and grand children.

            This class has taught me so much about education and teaching science in the classroom.  I know if it weren’t for this class I would not be confident with my abilities to teach science.  Not only is it important to understand some basic concepts of science, but it’s also important to be able to share the knowledge you know with your students.  A large part of science education is sharing what you know with you students as well as allowing them to share what they know or what they have learned with you as well as their class.  Science is best taught when the students get to learn and experience things for themselves, rather than being told what to expect and what to know. While this blog does not show everything I have learned throughout this semester, there are many more things I have learned and embraced that they have now become a part of me and who I am as an elementary science educator.