It is obvious enough that the purpose of students spending time in the classroom is so that they can learn about the world. By necessity, much of the type of learning that they do must be of a theoretical nature. In other words, they learn about concepts in an abstract way from books and lectures, as opposed to being able to go out in the field and learns things through a more hands on process.
This is kind of hard to avoid, because students in a classroom need to learn about a huge spectrum of different topics, and it would not really be possible to leave the school and go find someplace to learn about each different thing in person. In a more specialized environment something like that might be possible, but not in the typical classroom.
Because learning about a topic in person is more effective than just hearing about it, or seeing pictures of it, or memorizing a list of facts related to that topic, and because in most situations students get only a limited amount of exposure to that sort of situation, it is important for students to be able to take advantage of that kind of opportunity when it is reasonable to do so.
The most common situation where this sort of thing is possible is when they are learning about science. In the case of history, or foreign language, it can be difficult to go 'to the source' to learn about those subjects, but many scientific principles can be demonstrated or recreated right there in the classroom, so that is a good place to start if you want to be more hands on.
While many scientific demonstrations are anything but controversial, such as basic demonstrations of kinematics, some can be quite scandalous for some parents and school administrators. One such situation arises when you start to talk about bringing animals into the classroom, and using them to teach science to kids. There are two common ways to do this. One way to is perform experiments on the animals, and the other is to dissect the animal when it is already dead.
In any situation like this, you must weigh the cost against the reward. In the case of experimenting on animals, this is the sort of thing that probably has no place in a normal school setting, because the animals are likely to receive less than adequate care, and it is unlikely that the students will make any significant new discoveries which would be worth what the animal has to endure. However, dissecting animals can be a very valuable experience for students, and it is not possible to harm the animals because they are already dead. This is probably the best way to allow students to learn from animals in the classroom.
When a teacher has the opportunity to bring something real and tangible into the classroom for students to learn from, he or she should make the most of that opportunity. However, it is always important to remember the impact on another living things that might be involved, which is why dissection is the reasonable choice in this situation.
This is kind of hard to avoid, because students in a classroom need to learn about a huge spectrum of different topics, and it would not really be possible to leave the school and go find someplace to learn about each different thing in person. In a more specialized environment something like that might be possible, but not in the typical classroom.
Because learning about a topic in person is more effective than just hearing about it, or seeing pictures of it, or memorizing a list of facts related to that topic, and because in most situations students get only a limited amount of exposure to that sort of situation, it is important for students to be able to take advantage of that kind of opportunity when it is reasonable to do so.
The most common situation where this sort of thing is possible is when they are learning about science. In the case of history, or foreign language, it can be difficult to go 'to the source' to learn about those subjects, but many scientific principles can be demonstrated or recreated right there in the classroom, so that is a good place to start if you want to be more hands on.
While many scientific demonstrations are anything but controversial, such as basic demonstrations of kinematics, some can be quite scandalous for some parents and school administrators. One such situation arises when you start to talk about bringing animals into the classroom, and using them to teach science to kids. There are two common ways to do this. One way to is perform experiments on the animals, and the other is to dissect the animal when it is already dead.
In any situation like this, you must weigh the cost against the reward. In the case of experimenting on animals, this is the sort of thing that probably has no place in a normal school setting, because the animals are likely to receive less than adequate care, and it is unlikely that the students will make any significant new discoveries which would be worth what the animal has to endure. However, dissecting animals can be a very valuable experience for students, and it is not possible to harm the animals because they are already dead. This is probably the best way to allow students to learn from animals in the classroom.
When a teacher has the opportunity to bring something real and tangible into the classroom for students to learn from, he or she should make the most of that opportunity. However, it is always important to remember the impact on another living things that might be involved, which is why dissection is the reasonable choice in this situation.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sarah_Straussman
No comments:
Post a Comment