{"id":3780,"date":"2018-06-08T10:43:30","date_gmt":"2018-06-08T16:43:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mmilner\/?p=3780"},"modified":"2018-06-08T10:51:07","modified_gmt":"2018-06-08T16:51:07","slug":"science-teachers-as-science-learners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mmilner\/2018\/06\/08\/science-teachers-as-science-learners\/","title":{"rendered":"Math & Science Teachers as Learners"},"content":{"rendered":"

This summer I was asked to teach an Inquiry course in our STEM Teacher Education Program. The course is the last inquiry course that teacher-candidates take after they have completed their school practicum. As a result, they come to this course with much richer and more interesting experiences as compared to their previous, pre-practicum courses.<\/p>\n

As part of this Inquiry course I decided to show teacher-candidates how an inquiry into a mathematics concept can span the subject borders and help us a much deeper understanding of the natural world. To do that I decided to explore the concept of logarithms and its applications into physics (decibels (dB)), chemistry (pH levels), earth science (Richter scale). The concept of logarithms has a very interesting history<\/a> and numerous applications to everyday life – from the slide rules, to the understanding of natural phenomena that have a very vast dynamic range (change from super small to super big). I also have to say that I am a little biased towards logs as I still remember how my father taught me to use a slide rule (it is called a Logarithmic Rule in Russian). I even have a slide rule in my office. I am convinced that the inquiry into the history of the development of this mathematical concepts has a huge potential for mathematics and science educators. I also think that we should have a course on the history of ideas in mathematics and science to become a part of the Teacher Education Program.<\/p>\n

In my Inquiry course, teacher-candidates also wrote (created) lesson plays<\/a> where they imagined possible discussions teachers might facilitate in the classrooms in this context. I hope that the topic of logs helped us to explore how to facilitate inquiry in a mathematics or science classroom and engage students in meaningful learning.<\/p>\n

References:<\/p>\n

Zazkis, R., Liljedahl, P., & Sinclair, N. (2009). Lesson plays: Planning teaching versus teaching planning. For the Learning of Mathematics, 29(1), 39-46.<\/p>\n\"YouTube<\/a><\/span><\/span>\n\"YouTube<\/a><\/span><\/span>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This summer I was asked to teach an Inquiry course in our STEM Teacher Education Program. The course is the last inquiry course that teacher-candidates take after they have completed their school practicum. As a result, they come to this… Read moreMath & Science Teachers as Learners<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1525,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6900,31,236255,236258,6696,236253,2708],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-overcoming-technology-barriers","category-personal","category-physics-education","category-science-and-society","category-science-education","category-science-in-everyday-life","category-teacher-education","content-layout-excerpt-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mmilner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mmilner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mmilner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mmilner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1525"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mmilner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3780"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mmilner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3785,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mmilner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3780\/revisions\/3785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mmilner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mmilner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mmilner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}