I believe the purpose of an education is for individuals to be able to make a life, and not simply that they may be able to make a living. I believe learning and education are infinite activities, as intrinsic to the human experience as breathing. Learning and education happen everyday in many contexts as knowledge is passed from one individual to another in a continuous cycle. As Paulo Freire (1970) described, students will not enter my classroom as empty vessels waiting to be filled, and I believe I will grow and learn from my students in the collaborative experience of learning.

As a society, I believe, we have a fundamental responsibility to educate all children. Furthermore, I believe we must embrace all aspects of the child in the learning environment. From the playfully inquisitive side, to the unpredictably insightful side, children learn in many different ways. As a result, teachers in the classroom must be purposeful and diverse in planning, instructional delivery, and assessment to account for the hundreds of forms of learning.  I believe these three key pieces to formal education (planning, instructional delivery, and assessment) should be as many and varied as the students and driven by their interests.

I believe learning, especially learning in science, is a risk taking process. As an instructor, I must be willing to take risks in educating my students and I expect my students to be willing to take risks in learning with me. Therefore, I believe it to be integral to establish an environment of trust and respect for all learners. Part of the nature of science allows for different interpretations therefore, by creating an environment open to the multiplicity of learning and based on trust and respect, I believe I can help my students to understand that learning in science is play. Science is comparable to play because when we engage in play we challenge what we know, experiment with different procedures, and are open to a variable end result.

In addition, I believe it to be inherent in the tentative and empirical nature of science that engaging in science is a playful endeavor. As a result of learning in my classroom I believe all students, regardless of overall content knowledge ability, should understand and appreciate the importance of scientific thinking. Furthermore, I believe they should be able to practice the skills of thinking like a scientist in their own lives though critical thinking and problem solving. While I believe having a strength of content knowledge is important, I believe a competency and personal efficacy to think like a scientist supersedes this in the early developmental stages of learning.

Through creating an environment of trust, comfort with risk taking, and encouraging the use of science as a framework for understanding life and solving problems, I believe I can help students as they begin to form the skills necessary to lead full, interesting, well-balanced, and successful lives–long after they leave my classroom.

 “Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination.” ~John Dewey, The Quest for Certainty, 1929

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