I will have my students work with science data more frequently in our classroom.
Whether it is collecting data in a lab or using science datasets, this allows my students to be curious, ask questions, and explain key scientific concepts with data.
My students tested whether urchins kept indoors or outdoors consumed more kelp. The students got a taste of real, locally-relevant research directly connected to the work of the Hofmann Lab at UCSB.
I fell in love with Amanda Young’s circle graph examples today. I saw them as awesome gateways for students to explore visual data in a new/more exciting/artsy way.
I translated these experiences into classroom lessons centered on data literacy, long-term datasets, and the realities of scientific research.
The biggest impact of this experience is in how I teach the process of science. While I was at the LTER, I spent a lot of time thinking about how science is long and messy. As teachers, we sometimes make the message too “clean” to make a main point – but it’s critical that students grapple with the mess!
…what was so special about this program was that it introduced me and my students to a place in the world we had once considered foreign, unfamiliar, and completely abstract. It also allowed me to connect this place to our own backyard.
My two years as an ARETS Fellow profoundly changed how my students and I talk about science, approach a question, work together, look for evidence, and most importantly, pick up the pieces when our preconceived ideas are incorrect and comb through our data and ask another question.
As a teacher, students often think we ‘know’ everything or should be able to explain every possible question they pose. It was refreshing to remember how science begins with ‘not knowing’. This renewed appreciation for the process of inquiry, that science is a way of asking about the world around us, was a humbling encounter.
—by Rebecca Hawk If you step inside a classroom, there’s a good chance you will meet a group of funny and interesting kids and an adult who loves spending their days with them. This adult probably joined the education field with a heart full of hope or a fond memory of their schooling days. Sometimes… Read more »
My summers at Toolik Field Station reaffirmed a simple truth: teaching and research are intertwined. Authentic field experiences can transform educators and students alike, inspiring curiosity, critical thinking, and a lifelong passion for discovery.
