By Carmela Jones, MNS
“For what it’s worth, it’s never too late to be who you want to be. I hope you live a life that you’re proud of, and if you’re not, then I hope you have the strength to start over.” -F. Scott Fitzgerald
I felt like I started my teaching career all over again beginning with a summer Chemistry Modeling course at the University of Hawai'i. There I met another chemistry teacher, who later became a dear friend, Consuelo Rogers. She, along with Gheri Fouts (who facilitated the Physics Modeling course), taught us the Modeling Instruction pedagogy. It was a method that allowed students to build their own mental models for physical phenomena through experiments that they designed themselves with data they collected. It was science inquiry on steroids.
I thought I would be taking tons of notes and we would be discussing the theoretical impact of changing how we taught based on the theories we were learning. Five years of workshops, seminars, and short summer courses showed me that most professional development (PD) involved a lecture, a question & answer period, and a prescriptive lab activity. And that was exactly how I ran my classes. I never knew any other way to teach or to learn.
That course changed everything. I felt like a seedling that was being uprooted and replanted in a huge, outdoor garden. Something inside was being awakened. My eyes were slowly being opened to the possibilities of a better way to teach.
Of all things, we explored circles in a science course. Was I in the wrong class? I thought I was supposed to be learning science, not math. Patience...participate...do...think...learn...
Ding, ding, ding...we learned the mathematical model for pi. I had never experienced pi in that manner. It was always: "Take my word for it. The value of pi is 3.1416...," but never: "Oh, pi has to do with actual circles. I can figure out the diameter of a tree trunk or a ball or the planet without cutting a cross section of the object; if only I knew the value of pi."
It wasn't the content, as much as the method of building the mental model collectively; it was hearing, seeing, feeling it - THAT was the greatest value. There's the ownership piece I was desperately searching for. I went back to my own classroom revived, rejuvenated, and re-energized.
I'll describe how I "modelized" lessons in the most unlikely setting, a Health class, in a future post. There's more to come about my own teaching experiences with sprinklings of other teachers' stories and varied perspectives around issues involving education.
Add your name to those who support Modeling Instruction (MI) by liking & subscribing to The STEM Secret blog here (there's a subscribe button at the top and the bottom of the page: https://www.thestemsecret.com) and by liking & following The STEM Secret FaceBook page (https://www.facebook.com/theSTEMSecret/?modal=admin_todo_tour).
If you are a Modeling teacher, share your story by sending it to the email listed. If you know a great Modeling teacher, encourage them to send their story to the email listed. cjones.stemprofessionals@gmail.com.
If you are Modeling teacher and want to interact with other Modeling teachers with a question, an issue, a classroom experience, an announcement, or anything other MI teachers might be interested in, post it on the M2M (Modeler to Modeler) blog on the AMTA site. https://modelinginstruction.org/submit-a-blog-entry-to-m2m/
FB post from Gheri Fouts herself on 4/22/19...
Gheri Mattea Fouts: Being trained in Modeling Physics was a turning point for me. Modeling Physics is the only way to teach any science. I used it in chemistry and astronomy courses and it worked. So rewarding!
Tweet from Rob Peters...
I started over after 10 years. I was 40. It changed my life and my relationship with my students. MI has had a tremendous impact.