I enjoy developing math and science curriculum for K-12 students. There is something about engaging kids in hands on math and science that brings me joy. I personally believe that math and science are fun, cool and exciting; but most kids don't get a chance to see that because they aren't engaged in enough hands on activities at home, at school and in the community. When I teach the curriculum, I develop or enhance for lessons I find on the web, I rarely practice them before doing the activities with the students. At first, I thought my reason for not practicing the experiments beforehand was lack of time. Developing curriculum is a time consuming task that can take a lot out of you. So once, you are done, you catalog it in your file of lesson plans and wait for the time to implement it with the kids.
Some of my colleagues, who are math and science educators, frown upon that practice of mine. They believe that I should practice for reasons that include, who wants to mess up the experiment in front of the kids, how do you know how it is going to turn out and etc. Those reasons are probably valid for practicing the experiment. However, it wasn't until recently that I discovered that I enjoy finding out the results of the experiment with the kids, much more than checking to see if they did the experiment right or if they got the expected results.
As an engineer, who has had several lab courses, conducted research and worked as a research engineer, I have conducted lots of experiments. I rarely remember starting the experiment knowing exactly how the experiment would turn out. When it was appropriate, I learned the theory and principles of the experiment or research I was conducting. I knew what materials and equipment I would be using for my experiment. I knew the experimental conditions in which I should perform my experiment; pressure, temperature, time of experiment etc. I even knew what special conditions or lab equipment needed to be used to conduct the experiment- did it need to be conducted under a fume hood, did I need to wear goggles or lab coat, did I need to make an appointment to get into the magnetic lab to use the NMR. For certain experiments, I had to conduct journal research to see what other scientists had discovered about the topic or to determine how I would set up my experiment. But I rarely knew with 100% certainty how the experiment would turn out. I just did the experiment, took notes in my lab notebook and reviewed the experiment after I was done. I made conclusions on the experiment about what went well, what went wrong and determined if I was going to redo the experiment. However, as I scientist, I knew that I couldn't make those determinations unless I did the experiment at least three times.
I was subconsciously treating my students as the young scientists and engineers that I believe they are. I don't know the answers to what is going to happen in the experiment. We all are going to figure this thing out together. We are going to gather our materials, conduct our experiment, make our observations and after it is over discuss our experimental results. I've had a blast with my students discovering what will happen in the lessons that I developed for them. It has been great to ask the questions of the what, why and how of doing scientific experiments. It has been great to introduce kids to scientific and mathematic concepts through hands on math and science activities. It has been great to hear their answers of the how and why and what they would do differently if they determined their experiment went completely wrong. I don't mind "messing" up an experiment in front of the kids, because if they end up pursuing a STEM career there is a strong possibility that they will "mess" up. One of my college professors and mentors of mine, that I learned the most from use to mess up in class from time to time.
If you as an educator or parent, want to practice the experiments before you do them with your kids, go ahead and do so. But when you are conducting them with them, please don't ever tell your kids that they are doing it wrong if the experiment doesn't go as you practiced. One of the great things about doing science with kids is making it fun and getting them excited about doing experiments. Just enjoy the process of experimentation and the discussion that you can have with your kids with them afterwards. The kids aren't trying to design a drug, produce a product for the shelf or save the environment. They are being exposed to science and hopefully discovering that it is fun. Nothing is fun if they feel that they are a failure at it and that is what happens when you tell kids that they are doing something wrong.
In science there is no wrong answer, you just experiment and experiment until your satisfaction. Most of the world's greatest STEM professionals pursued that career path because they were allowed to explore and engage in science as a child. That exploration and experimentation gave them the confidence to pursue STEM careers. I truly believe that is the whole purpose of engaging kids in hands on math and science activities, to give them the confidence that they can do well in math and science. Then if they find that they like math and science more than other subjects, then we can encourage them to pursue STEM careers. That is what our job as adults are to do, is to equip children with the tools and give them the confidence to pursue any path they desire.
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