Emaze Presentation and Teaching Philosophy (6)

Elaborate 6

I have found, through the various quizzes and evaluations on teaching philosophy that our class has taken, that I am far more influenced by the arguments that support student-centered approaches to teaching, rather than those that center around teachers. While to some degree, some of the values in the more teacher-centered categories are important here and there, I find that a student-centered approach always felt more natural and appealing to my classmates and I back when I was a student, and I also find that today's students seem to respond similarly well to these approaches as well.
Personally, I am a scientist as well as an educator, so the western-centered, more authority-emphasizing views of the other side of the philosophical spectrum are not very appealing to me. While I acknowledge that respect for authority is important, I also feel that that respect should be earned through actions, and that authority that conflicts with one's reason should be questioned. This falls right in line with my future career as a science teacher -- students in a science course should question the world around them. It is important that students experience and observe phenomena for themselves and come to their own conclusions about the world around them. I may tell them that gravity is real and they will agree because they experience it, but when I tell them that the acceleration of gravity on the surface of earth is approximately 9.81m/s2, they should question that. "Is it always that number? What about out in space, or on other planets? I want to do a lab and see it myself!" These are the questions I feel my students should be asking, not simply bowing to my rank as their teacher and silently writing it down.
To this end, I will have to use strategies like thinking aloud to model this thought process for my students. When addressing that unit on gravity, I need to say something like, "Who doesn't believe me? Who wants to prove whether or not this is correct in the lab? I bet that If I shoot a metal ball out of a little cannon over here, you guys can measure how far it fell, and how long that took, and tell me if that 9.81m/s2 is right!" And when students ask questions, it will be important for me not to brush off any of that honest curiosity (related to the class, of course). Ignoring or shutting down a student when they are curious and expressing their interest is a good way to keep them from asking more. Realistically, class time is limited and I might not be able to answer every question then and there, but I can also answer a few students on their way out the door, or if they have a free period and stop by to ask something, or even after school. If my philosophy is to support that inquisitiveness and students interest, then I have to actually reflect that in practice, and let the students know that it is welcome.

My Emaze presentation on the subject.