“I Wonder Why…”
I often list “scientific literacy” as one of my goals for my future students. But what exactly does that look like? Surely, even I can’t possibly believe that every one of my students will grow up to become an astrophysicist or geneticist in the future. While it is indeed important for my future little Albert Einsteins, Marie Curies, and Francis Cricks to be able to read, write, and act in a scientific manner, it is equally important for my future little Peyton Mannings, Oprah Winfreys, and Michelle Obamas to also understand and interpret scientific works.
Science is one of those super cool classes where students not only get to know more, they get to do more. Science can be defined both as a dynamic body of knowledge and as a specific way of knowing (Merriam-Webster). Unfortunately, this way of knowing is oft confined to the finite steps of the so-called “Scientific Method.” Yet science is anything but a methodical and monotonous accumulation of facts (although with the way it is has typically been taught, one may argue otherwise). Robert Full points out that nearly every one of you began every single science class you took from kindergarten until college with a review of the scientific method (2011). But science is not a cookbook, and you cannot simply combine all the ingredients and get an answer. The best cooks and chefs in the world don’t become the best by following a recipe — they are curious, they ask “what if?” and “why” questions, and they innovate.
Thus, the first aspect of a scientifically literate individual is curiosity. The good news is that kids come into the world with an innate and uncurbed curiosity. The bad news is that in their years of schooling, students often lose their curiosity — they no longer ask questions and no longer wonder “why?” We squeeze out those questions as we cram in definitions of mitochondria, photosynthesis, vectors, carrying capacity, momentum, symbiosis, velocity, natural selection, endosymbiont theory, isotopes, homologous chromosomes, ionizing radiation, mass spectrometry, graduated cylinders, bar graphs — it’s no wonder there isn’t any room left for wonder!
We need to not only encourage our students to ask questions, but teach them how to begin searching for the answers. The scientific endeavor takes an extreme amount of persistence: students will fail, make mistakes, fall down, and try things that simply don’t work. But science simply replies, “How do you think we got where we are now?” The problem: no one likes to fail, especially students. To build a scientifically literate student, you need to teach persistence. To teach persistence, you need to build a classroom like Jeff Cazier’s, where the teacher holds “a belief in students’ ability and right to engage in authentic scientific pursuit” (Plaut, 2014, p. 82). Students need to know that it is okay to fail and that someone believes in them.
Yet, persistence alone is not enough. As Albert Einstein once noted, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the same results.” It would be insane to ask our students to keep trying to find the cure to cancer — “If you only try a little harder, I know you can figure out the cure!” said no teacher ever. Instead, we must teach our students how to seek answers. Unlike curiosity and asking questions, students do not simply know how to find the answers. As teachers, we must avoid the “vaccination method” assumption that because students learned how to read in third grade, they now know how to find the answers to complex science questions (Shanahan, 2008, p. 43). Rather, we must specifically teach and allow our students to practice the actions of science: “prediction, observation, analysis, collaboration, and presentation in the construction of accepted and emerging scientific knowledge” (Smagorinsky, 2014, p. 60). Individuals who are active in the process of scientific inquiry view science as an action. They view the body of knowledge as dynamic and understand there are still many questions to be answered — and they want to help find the answers!
My seventh grade science teacher had a little cross stitch right outside her door that read, “Common sense is not as common as we have been led to believe.” With an overwhelming amount of information available with the click of a button (a Google search of, “What is the meaning of life?” yielded over 330,000,000 results in 0.77 seconds), one of the most important qualities of a scientifically literate individual is the ability to reason. We are bombarded with graphs, numbers, studies, figures, statistics, charts, and data claiming to have finally found the cure to cancer, the steps to finally losing those last ten pounds, and the next colonizable planet. But what can we actually believe? A scientifically literate individual understands how scientists ask questions and seek answers and can discern the legitimacy of the information presented. Such individuals can find biases, read past the “pretty” graphics, and evaluate the validity of each statement or claim. Such individuals know to investigate a little bit further when they read an article titled, “Why Tequila Is Actually Good For You.”
So there you have it — to be scientifically literate requires curiosity, persistence, experimentation, and reasoning. While there is no perfect recipe to follow to ensure every student develops and maintains these characteristics (science is a messy endeavor, after all), by creating an environment where questions are welcomed, where mistakes are not viewed as failures, and where science is not just a word, but an action, we may be able to help our students be scientifically literate.
Works Cited
Google Images.
Full, R. (2011). Curiosity, discovery, and gecko feet. TED-Ed YouTube. Retrieved from https://ed.ted.com/lessons/curiosity-discovery-and-gecko-feet-robert-full
Plaut, S. (2009). The Right to Literacy in Secondary Schools. Teachers College Press, New York, NY.
Science. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster Dictionary online. Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/science
Shanahan, T. and C. Shanahan. (2008). Teaching Disciplinary Literacy to Adolescents: Rethinking Content-Area Literacy. Harvard Educational Review, 78:1 (40–59).
Smagorinsky, P. (2014). Teaching Dilemmas and Solutions in Content-Area Literacy, Grades 6–12. Corwin Publishing Company, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Fern, A. (2015). Why Tequila Is Actually Good For You. Elite Daily. Retrieved from https://www.elitedaily.com/life/15-reasons-tequila-actually-really-good/927020
