Proposal Title
Science and Humanity: teaching in context
Session Type
Workshop
Room
FNB 2240
Start Date
4-7-2019 10:00 AM
Keywords
context, critical thinking, multiple perspectives, communication, social license, diversity, humanity, impact
Primary Threads
Teaching and Learning Science
Abstract
Our students are moving out into a world quite different from that of even 20 years ago – and also most likely very different from the world of 20 years into their future. In our teaching, we spend a lot of time and energy developing and presenting the content we deem so important for them to know, yet we may easily neglect or diminish the contexts. What is the connection between the science they are learning and humanity more widely? Are there cultural aspects around diversity issues that we have assumed are not the purview of an “objective” worldview such as that of science? Have our students had the opportunity to grapple with multiple perspectives in the content, as well as the context of science and humanity more broadly? Our own science education likely did not include these contextual aspects, yet our social license to “do” science today requires us to engage and understand such contexts.
Through hands-on activities and discussion, this workshop offers a number of ideas “tried and tested” in our own classrooms, that can readily be incorporated into the learning environment at little time or financial cost. Through these impactful activities, our students: (1) develop their critical thinking skills as they encounter and engage in multiple and diverse perspectives; (2) start to see the value, relevance, and implications of their science for humanity more broadly and its interface with culture: and (3) build a framework upon which to develop their wider communication skills to diverse audiences.
Elements of Engagement
Participants will have the opportunity to engage in activities that expand the content of science to include the contexts involved, and explore more completely possibilities for considering connections to humanity more broadly. Through these hands-on activities and discussion, as well as consideration of their own teaching and learning environments, participants will begin to develop a toolbox for effectively including a number of activities and ideas into their own teaching.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Science and Humanity: teaching in context
FNB 2240
Our students are moving out into a world quite different from that of even 20 years ago – and also most likely very different from the world of 20 years into their future. In our teaching, we spend a lot of time and energy developing and presenting the content we deem so important for them to know, yet we may easily neglect or diminish the contexts. What is the connection between the science they are learning and humanity more widely? Are there cultural aspects around diversity issues that we have assumed are not the purview of an “objective” worldview such as that of science? Have our students had the opportunity to grapple with multiple perspectives in the content, as well as the context of science and humanity more broadly? Our own science education likely did not include these contextual aspects, yet our social license to “do” science today requires us to engage and understand such contexts.
Through hands-on activities and discussion, this workshop offers a number of ideas “tried and tested” in our own classrooms, that can readily be incorporated into the learning environment at little time or financial cost. Through these impactful activities, our students: (1) develop their critical thinking skills as they encounter and engage in multiple and diverse perspectives; (2) start to see the value, relevance, and implications of their science for humanity more broadly and its interface with culture: and (3) build a framework upon which to develop their wider communication skills to diverse audiences.