Enhancing Science Education Today and Tomorrow
My memories as a child surround learning about and taking care of my 50 pets, exploring wildlife, and helping my mom teach at an elementary school. These experiences were the seeds that grew my love for nature and teaching. It only made sense that the perfect career to tie these passions together was a science teacher. After learning about science education for 8 years, I have come to realize its unlimited possibilities and increasing importance for future generations. However, I have also realized its overlooked and underutilized fate. This realization has shaped my future goal of shining light back on the importance of science education and changing it to better prepare our students for the future. I plan to do this in three stages. First, I want to become a better science educator and enhance my science education knowledge. I then plan on sharing my enhanced science education knowledge with other educators. My final stage is to create change in current and future science educators.
Michigan recently adopted the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which requires the use of inquiry based instruction. I have already received training with inquiry-based instruction and the NGSS in 2 science classes in my Master’s program at Michigan State University (MSU). However, I would like to continue this training by attaining a Science Education Graduate Certificate in the Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education Doctoral program at MSU. The courses would help develop expertise in theoretical and methodological perspectives in science education. Before achieving this, I would like to continue teaching and involve myself in science education research aimed at improving my science education knowledge and instruction. The first research program is a partnership with MSU researchers where I record science lessons and look at how I notice and respond to how students make sense of science. Additionally, I have been accepted to a science education research program from the Michigan Education Association (MEA) and MSU. I will undergo professional development to learn how to teach the Carbon TIME (Transformations in Matter and Energy) curriculum and then will teach it. This research will span two years and is focused on addressing how curriculum can best meet the NGSS. These future experiences and knowledge will guide me in becoming a better science educator to prepare my students for their future, which I would then like to share with others.
The next part of my plan is to share my enhanced knowledge of science education with colleagues and science educators. I plan on coauthoring an article with a MSU researcher regarding our research on the strategies teachers use to elicit and respond to students’ science sense-making. We would like to get our article published in the National Science Teachers Association’s journal, Science Scope, to share what information we have gathered. Other science teachers could learn from our research and try our proven strategies in their classrooms. Moreover, with Michigan’s adoption of the NGSS, my school district will be assembling a team of teachers to discuss what changes need to be made to our curriculum and what professional development teachers need to be able to meet the NGSS and help our students best prepare for their futures. With my enhanced science education knowledge, I will be an asset to this team and will bring first-hand experiences. I do not want to stop at becoming a better science educator and sharing my knowledge and experience; I also want to create change in science educators.
The final stage of my plan is to create change in future and present science educators. This will require me to change career focus by becoming a professor of science education. As a professor of science education, I could teach future teachers everything I have learned and experienced in my education, research, and career. Particularly, I could focus on why science education is important and what instructional strategies to use to best prepare students for science and engineering jobs. This would equip future teachers with best practices prior to teaching. I could also create change by becoming a curriculum coach. This would allow me to meet with science teachers and provide them with professional development including knowledge, resources, strategies, etc. on how to best teach science education to prepare their students. These careers could act as the culminating stage in achieving my goal. They would allow me to use my enhanced knowledge and experiences to create change in how educators teach science education.
Literacy and math have outshined science in the past years. My long term goal is to shine light back on the importance of science education and changing it to better prepare our students for the future. To do this requires a multiple stage plan, which includes me enhancing my science education knowledge, sharing my knowledge with others, and creating change in science educators. Once accomplished, I will continue to enhance and share my knowledge and hopefully create change with everything I do.
