Faith’s Brainstorm #1: Feature Boxes in Textbooks and HiSTEMory
Welcome to my thought bubble! It’s not an over professional article — just me, talking to you. Me, writing to you to be more specific…
I remember, when I was a kid (in elementary school or younger) Mom and Dad would get me these super interesting, books filled with 100 science facts, ancient civilizations illustrated, or any great product from Scholastic or DK that intrigued my young brain. I would flip through them constantly and right after pretend I’m a paleontologist, adventurous scientist or mummy hunter. I remember the books channeling my playful and inquisitive side; and, yes, I would be spitting out whatever I learned such as long dinosaur names and that sort of “did you know” stuff. However, at such a young age, I didn’t take deep interest in looking for the references in the book and researching exact data on Wikipedia or some .edu website. That’s where school and their textbooks come in.
Fun facts.
That section, boxed-off and separate from the passage in a textbook grabs our attention, like a lone illustration discovered in a lengthy black and white book. I’m thinking about school textbooks in particular. They have feature text-boxes. Features either provide a little more details about the section or they share insight on something relevant but of a different field of focus. It’s brief and it grapples with your mind for a bit. Text-boxes that “feature” a field or study connected to the section in the textbook’s chapter remind me of the books I would read when I was younger, creating a pro and con split.
Unlike kid-me who was more interested in creating a rip-off of the Jurassic Park films all the while becoming a mad scientist, rather than becoming a scholar, a student will and should be encouraged to exercise their curiosity outside of the textbook and curriculum’s aims. The text-box sparks a certain interest and leaves the student to take the initiative to learn more about the subject.
Yet we have a setback. How many students take up the challenge by themselves? They are already bombarded by homework and other projects. Will they remember: “Note to self: when I get home, don’t forget to look for the first dissected nervous system and who were involved,” or will their sparks turn dark after the page turns?
As someone who advocates for STEM representation, I love to see it integrated into non-STEM subjects. Another thing I absolutely enjoy is studying history. So when I see HiSTEMory….. that’s a terrible way of putting STEM and History together….. anyway I get excited.
Say, for example, we are studying 1800s in this World History book provided by Livonia Public Schools (page 882). Sure, there’s a feature of the Age of Invention, Thomas Edison, and more science breakthroughs. Does it go into much details? Only about a page or so. Does it talk about Nikola Tesla and the war of the currents (not the movie)? Not a clue. Let’s hope science class teaches history.
Science class should teach science.
Yes, like our 19th century lesson in history class featuring a small portion of sci and tech eras, there should be brief clips of history inside the science text. But consider this: science is political when research breakthroughs need to be authorized by the government as lawful, accepted by the public when STEM is debated, and marked in the history books when a fatal pandemic hits us every century or so. History and social studies class is the place to learn about historical events and politics. Therefore, the politicized part of science should stay there, and occasionally roam the science class, not blinding out the actual science concepts. I want to say the same for science staying out of social studies, but I’m not suggesting that we teach science- based knowledge, I just want the events leading to significant scientific breakthroughs to be highlighted in history class as significant enough to learn about it in depth.
Have no fear, some possible solutions are here. Firstly, I’d like to say that books like those published by OpenStax, which have PDF versions these days, allow links to videos and interactive websites in those feature boxes. Feature text-boxes upped their game. Hold up: we’re not going to let kids just flip past these pages and forget the fun facts they come across.
A Solution or Two
If an efficient teacher, not bound to the curriculum standards, is at hand, maybe the class has a chance at learning something refreshing away from the monotony of the textbook. Teachers can always be the channel between the fun stuff in these subjects and the students’ engagement levels. Even basing more assignments on historical and political aspects of STEM can be a benefit; however, we do not want the students to lose their spark thanks to another drowsy homework load.
I’ll do you one better. How about a subject, or elective, for the historical literature lovers and the STEM academies. My suggestion to teach students about the historical aspects of STEM is to involve them in a class or elective that studies historical science or the history of science. I kid you not, there’s the Science History Institute that dedicates their work to historical pieces of science: take the class for a trip (or just head over to your local museum…). Furthermore, head over to Google Shopping and type in “science history” and you will be sure to find many fascinating books that fit the job description. The resources are there, we just need to utilize them.
Thanks for reading my little rant. This article will be published for STEM First! Gen. I would absolutely love to hear your responses. Comment below, tag me on Twitter, you name it. You are more than welcome to publish your genius ideas to our STEM First! Gen publication as well, since we are open to all science communicators who need help sharing their thoughts with the world. Simply check out our guidelines, or message the publication on Twitter (or email us at stemfirst.gen@gmail.com), and we will add you as a writer in a heartbeat.
Thank you for your interests!
“Science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated.”
― Rosalind Franklin
