The Science Teaching Leadership Programme officially began today. My host is the Biophysics and Soft Matter research group within the Institue of Fundamental Sciences up at Massey University's Turitea Campus.
The question of purpose and application behind their work has come up again and again in talking with my new colleagues.
As a teacher, I am naturally obsessed with outcomes and asking why type questions. “We want to stretch a strand of DNA!” Why? What’s the purpose and what will the application of that be? That doesn’t appear to be a concern here as carrying out investigation like that is in and of itself a process of discovery. And discovery leads to discovery. Like the opposite of a vicious cycle..... maybe a discovery cycle?
I am placing genuine effort on holding back from asking what the application of everything I hear they do is. I'm afraid it has become a part of my teacher brain and I recognise the fallacy in that thinking. Searching for outcomes or applicaton inhibits creativity. Why can't the answer to, "Why do you want to do that?" be "Because it would be super cool!". Let an outcome emerge as a result of passionate desire to test an idea. Perhaps I should take more of this approach in the classroom. End points and box checking does not make for quality learning. Like the famous saying goes, it’s about the journey not the destination.
Classroom links already forming
In talking with one of the PhD students here, he shared with me his research into the elasticity and viscosity of cells. He likened cell reactions to that off the cornstarch & water mix, which can be both elastic and viscous depending on environmental influences. "Think about a time that you have been punched in the arm," he says. "Your body tenses up and the hit area becomes rigid. This is the same principle that is demonstrated with the cornstarch." I had previously thought of the cornstarch mix as useful for challenging thinking about liquids and solids etc but this clear and meaningful link to an actual cellular reaction would, I think, be so engaging for kids! “Know this kids.... It’s happening in your bodies all the time!”
I can see that I am going to get so much from my time with this research group.
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