Philosophy of Teaching Science to Adolescents

Mary Osborn

The greatest discoveries of science have always been those that forced us to rethink our

beliefs about the universe and our place in it, a quote from Robert L. Park. We are forced to

rethink the world when knowledge is gained and the environment around us shifts irreversibly.

Science if often seen as an abstract subject that helped us reach the moon, find out that the world

isnt really flat, or that the earth orbits around the sun. Yet we often fail to see the beauty that is

all around us on a daily basis. My goal in teaching science to adolescents is to create a sense of

self in nature. Use science to investigate the differences between various cultures to make the

content meaningful to all students including minorities. I want to take the content beyond just the

western designed textbooks that describe old white guys discovering new inventions such as

the lightbulb and electricity. Students will investigate how different people have shaped the earth

into what it is now and how different cultures outlooks reflect spirituality in nature that connects

respect to the natural ecosystem. Adapting my teaching pedagogy to include all students will

allow me to foster multicultural awareness, become an advocate for my students, and develop the

scientific mindset that I want all my students to adopt.

By creating an open environment, my students will feel as if their questions are valid and

we can investigate the world around us in a critical way. Ways in which I will do this is

modifying my teaching strategies depending on my students to make it relatable and

understandable. I will bring in the unknown knowledge about minority scientists and how they

have shaped our society today. To aid this, I will bring in scientists and guest speakers from

varieties of different backgrounds to show them that influence scientific research. In doing this, I
hope to become an advocate for my students in which they know that I care about them and

believe in their futures. This will encourage all my students to come to class and foster a mindset

to look at the world and challenge what they see because they are all scientists at heart. Science

isnt just for the top 20 percent, 30 percent, or even 60 percent. Scientific knowledge should be

accessible, relatable, and applicable to every person across the whole globe regardless of skin

color or cultural background. For the future of our planet, and my students, it is my duty to share

this knowledge to create and foster a scientifically conscious community of young people who

care enough to do something about the threats to biodiversity everywhere. Many influential

people and scientists from different backgrounds and cultures have shaped our scientific

knowledge which has been overshadowed by the western designed textbooks. My students will

know that they are all scientists in their own way, if they are asking questions about the world

around them, they are scientists, if they wonder why the sky is blue or trees are green, they are

scientists. Integrating inquiry based learning into science can be challenging yet extremely

rewarding. By letting my students actively ask questions and seek investigation, they become not

just a student but a scientist looking deeper into something that perplexes their mind and

encourages thought and letting them work together as a scientific team they can create a feeling

of community by communicating their ideas and questions to their fellow students. Integrating

technology into the classroom which allows all students to learn life skills used in future jobs

will allow them to be more confident in their own abilities as global citizens.

It is our job as teachers to provide the trusting and respectful relationships that can create

awareness for the educational oppression occurring and use our activism to change the laws to

help instead of hurt our students. Building a hopeful future cannot happen overnight, but I can as

an educator do my best to create a community of love and support in and out of the school. The
only way to address this is to use public school policies, teacher unions, and student resources to

spread the love and awareness to help our students reach their full potential. My goal everyday

while teaching is to make every child feel important and cared for regardless of the color of their

skin, their sexual orientation, or anything that makes them different. I will embrace them as

much as I can and provide them a safe space in which they can forget about the prejudices of the

world and know that they are loved in my classroom.

Therefore, my teaching philosophy will be doing just that, inspiring my students to not

only care for themselves and their future but the future of our Earth. I will achieve this by

creating an inclusive and engaging environment in which each student has the freedom to

explore the content and make the discoveries I know they can make. I want to inspire my

students to live their ordinary lives with extraordinary purpose and pursue what their passions are

regardless of what obstacles they may face. It will be a challenge every day but it is a challenge I

am ready to take on and I know for a fact that my education is never over and I will continue to

gain knowledge through lifelong learning. By using relatable content from everyday life my

students will be able to look at the world around them and want to dive deeper into why things

are the way they are. This will encourage inquiry in the classroom so that students want to solve

the problems or questions they want. Hopefully my students will be able to combine inclusivity,

relatability, inquiry, and hands on learning to develop a scientific outlook on the world around

them.