Mind the Gap: Session 2

1.  Ravich Chapter 1:  "...in education, there are no shortcuts, no utopias, and no silver bullets" (pg. 3).  Such an ominous beginning to a book! I think most teachers go into the profession with the passion to change the lives of the students they teach: to be the silver bullet Ravich denies existence of.  I don't know if it is my optimism, or naivety, that makes me still believe that there has to be a formula out there that works: a perscription that will turn poor-performing schools around.  I am not sure if it is realistic to assume that all American students will graduate high school, but I certainly believe they should be given every opportunity to succeed in school and should be afforded a high-quality education...however that may be achieved.

"We must make sure that our schools have a strong, coherent, explicit curriculum that is grounded in the liberal arts and sciences, with plenty of opportunity for children to engage in activities and projects that make learning lively.  We must ensure that students gain the knowledge they need to understand political debates scientific phenomena, and the world they live in.  We must be sure they are prepared for the responsibilities of democratic citizenship in a complex society.  We must take care that our teachers are well educated, not just well trained.  We must be sure that schools have the authority to maintain both standards of learning and standards of behavior" (pg. 13-14).  This quote resonates with my core beliefs of education: education should provide the foundation for one to engage with the world he or she lives in.  It should provide opportunity.  I would argue that most probably people agree with the most or all of the quote above, yet, implementing these ideas/beliefs effectively has been problematic for the United States.  I am very interested in how Ravich would propose to achieve this type of education system.  Would urban schools be run differently than rural or suburban schools?  Are there any schools that exist today that have achieved all of these things?

2.  I would characterize a well educated person as someone who is able to explain their opinions and support their ideas with evidence from subjects like history, literature, current events and science.  Someone who is well educated should be able to draw their own conclusions, while respecting others.  He or she should be able to apply necessary mathematic principals and analytic skills to everyday life.

3.  One of the biggest points of the discussion that stood out for me regarding Ravich's book was that she took ownership of having at some points agreed with many of the policies she now considers failures.  Some students took this as an apology to the reader, however, I am not sure if that was her intention or she was simply attempting to be honest with her reader, which I appreciated.  I am very interested in educational policy, and find her book to be fascinating, but I wonder what, if any, biases may shape her opinions and findings?

4.  My largest gap in content knowledge for biology is the physiology standard.  The following 3 resources could help me fill this gap:
-Website: www.khanacademy.org/#biology  I decided to watch the video "Anatomy of a Neuron" since we were discussing neurons, learning and memory in MAIT 403.  I learned that neurons are the cells that make up the brain and the nervous system.  The body of the neuron is called the "soma" while the branches off of the neuron are called the dendrites.  The "axon" is the tail of the neuron.  A signal, for example- from a taste bud, is then transmitted from the dendrite to the axon, then the signal is passed over a synapse to other neurons or muscle cell, etc.
-Article: The Brain: Why Athletes are Geniuses
-Book: Clinical Physiology Made Ridiculously Simple by Dr. Stephen Goldberg

5.  The first article I found to be useful for my research is a literature review that discusses the use of technology to promote inquiry-based instruction for the science classroom.  While much of the article explains what inquiry-based instruction is (and even discusses A Nation at Risk!!), it does a good job of providing concrete examples of the use of technology to drive inquiry in the classroom.  One of these examples uses something called a "mashup" that is created by students online.  A mashup seems to be a webpage that combines different digital resources into one main source, and requires students to hypothesize, collect and explore evidence to construct a scientific argument.  Another useful aspect of this article is its suggestion of other web tools that may be used for different purposes: Facebook, Edmodo, and Google Plus as network and discussion tools.  I also plan to look into the references listed in the article for primary sources

Another article I found helpful was a qualitative case study of what students are looking for in a science class, including their preference of digital resources.  The author, Lauren Goldenberg, stresses that technology cannot simply stand alone in the classroom, but must be scaffolded in order to help students learn the concepts.  Again, as this is a secondary source, I plan on researching the references listed.

6.  Question for Meg: Hi Meg!  Ok...I think I just need clarification: if an article does not have a methods section it is considered a secondary resource?  The second article I posted about came from a magazine called "The Science Teacher," and although it does not seem to be a peer-reviewed journal article, does it still have merit?  Thank you!

This week I responded to Eddie, whose subject is also science.  Since I responded to the other science teachers last week, I hope it is ok if I responded to Mary Jane and Jerry, other single subject teachers, instead :).