We’re preparing elementary education majors to be ambitious science teachers, so they can teach science effectively to youth of all backgrounds.
The Urban Ecosystem project recruited its first group of pre-service teachers in the fall of 2015. Five ISU students completed a one credit course in ambitious science teaching. Under the guidance of Dr. Katherine Richardson Bruna, Dr. Gale Seiler, and Dr. Lyric Bartholomay, the students learned through hands-on experiences that unfolded in response to the guiding question about how crickets chirp. After the class, ISU student Charlcie Helvey explained, “The professors displayed it for us like we were the students. I’m a visual person, so seeing it- I could picture myself teaching like this. I realized I could do this.”
Another student Dani Manna added, “It gives us such confidence that we can trust our students to generate those ideas and guide the lesson.
The students feel like they’re the scientist or they’re the inventors. I’ve just seen how ambitious science teaching helps creating confidence in students.”
Bailey Oberbroeckling also completed the class and said, “The class was great practice before we went to the schools.”
“The natural curiosity and inquiry we can promote with these practices will stick with students for a lifetime. Also, if we relate the material to the lives of the students, a bigger impact can be made on students’ learning and understanding,” explained pre-service teacher Alex Udorvich after she had a chance to put ambitious science teaching into action.
