I for one feel as though, my whole life, I have been a student that "wanted the right answer". I was a student that wanted to be spoon fed. Why? Because it's a whole lot easier than creating. Creating is hard. Or maybe its just that I need more practice.
Working on problems where there is "one single answer" provided in textbooks is not only boring, but greatly limits students' ability to pattern and re-image. Root and Bernstein go on to say, "making patterns for oneself is a lot more fun than memorizing- and a lot more valuable. Teasing apart one pattern and composing another requires real understanding of the basic elements of the phenomena and processes. More, it opens up whole new worlds of knowledge" (Root-Bernstein, 1999, Pg. 135). I would have to agree. Although creating is a lot of hard work, it is also rewarding as well. I thoroughly enjoy creating so why do I settle for the spoon? Convenience is the answer.
Just as in life, science is full of patterns. One particular pattern I find compelling is energy transfer.
Energy transfer is an idea that weaves its way through any and all faucets of science. From life science to earth science to physical science to space science and beyond. The idea is an underlining pattern that we (teachers) gloss over fair too frequently and never really connect with. From earthquakes to hurricanes, from fire to rain, from birth to death, from plants to decomposes, from the sun to the moon, almost everything transfers energy in some way. This pattern is hard to represent in a single picture and I really couldn't find anything that I felt satisfied it. Below is a picture of something that represents a fraction of some of the energy transfer that we experience daily.
First, lets think of ways in which energy is transferred in regards to science. The sun provides light energy that plants convert to chemical energy (carbs). That energy is potential chemical energy because it is stored. Say, a human eats this chemical energy (carbs), they are then immediately transferring the chemical energy into a different form of chemical energy called ATP. This ATP is also potential chemical energy because it is stored. Our bodies then transfer this energy into kinetic energy (energy in motion) when we use ATP to move our muscles. When we smile, we are transferring energy, when we cry, we are transferring energy. Everything we do uses energy.
Re-patterned
My thought of re-patterning energy transfer is more of a shift in thought process. Instead of students looking at pictures that represent arbitrary items showing energy transfer, I want students to be engrossed in images and text of energy transfer. But not text and images that are foreign to them, but images and text that they themselves create and write. My thought is to have each student keep a daily journal. In that journal their task is to photograph or record one energy transfer experience they have each day and write about it in their journal. An example of what this might look like is here. I feel this assignment adds some personal value to the concept of energy transfer and truly gets them thinking about the topic in an entirely new perspective (maybe that's only wishful thinking! lol). It puts some personal investment in the concept and individualizes the idea for all learners. My thought is that the students would add to this project each time we begin talking about a different type of energy transfer. For example, when we talk about plants energy transfer, they would add to this, then when we talk about body systems later in the year, they would again add it this. I don't feel that they should be limited to the type of energy we are covering, but rather tied to the idea. I have also thought, this project could be done as a series of blog posts as well. It could be a good way begin ones journey of blogging.
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