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On Teaching Techniques and Methods (Part Two)

Elliott Seif

May 16, 2023

Categories:

On Teaching Techniques and Methods: Reflections of an Experienced Teacher (Part Two)

By Ralph Rhodes, retired social studies teacher, Council Rock High School, Pennsylvania

Edited by Elliott Seif, author of Teaching for Lifelong Learning: How to Prepare Students for a Changing World

Editor’s note: Many years ago, I worked with Ralph Rhodes who, upon his retirement from education, wrote this paper with the intention of passing on some of his teaching insights to others. His words of wisdom are divided into two separate blogs—the first one on teaching techniques and methods and this blog, part two, on “who you are” as an educator.

I have edited his work to make it more general and fit with today’s times, but there is a lot of wisdom about teaching at any level presented here. Enjoy!

My fellow educators:

Over the last 22 years, I have consistently evaluated my own teaching. For 10 of those years, I have had my students do the same. I have divided my reflections into two parts: the first 10 suggestions, posted in an earlier blog on teaching techniques and strategies, and these 10 suggestions on “being” or the importance of who a teacher is in the classroom.

Several of these tips can also be helpful to educational leaders who may want to share and discuss these ideas with teachers. Since we are all unique and many effective teaching styles can be very different from one another, some of the items listed here may or may not be appropriate for everyone. However, I hope these 10 ideas on “being” are ultimately helpful to many of those in the classroom as well as those working with teachers.

Be inspired. If you ever wish to inspire others, you must be inspired yourself. Seek and cultivate your own sources of inspiration. Find others who have the same passions as you do and encourage each other.

A good teacher has a thirst for learning as well as teaching. Be a thief of other ideas, techniques, and attitudes that inspire you as a teacher. Take courses that renew your creativity. Become friendly with those who set high ideals and stoke your personal and professional passions.

It also helps to have childlike curiosity and excitement. Tom Hanks was told in the movie Joe Versus the Volcano that only a few people on Earth are awake; the rest are going through life asleep, unaware, unappreciative, and unexcited. Make sure you and your classes are among those that are awake. You and your students will benefit from such inspiration and passion.
Make sure you have the energy you need for the magic moments when you are with your students. Good teaching requires high levels of energy and enthusiasm. Each day, you must be fresh and up and ready to wage war against ignorance. Though your role should be closer to a “guide on the side” than a “sage on the stage,” steering your students toward inquiry, understanding, and explanation is the greatest show on Earth. Do whatever it takes to stay fresh and enthusiastic.
Be supportive and empowering, not negative and controlling. Your job is to get your students to feel good about what they do and to empower them to learn, apply what they learn, and think on their own. Someone once said that humility is having the ability and capacity to see all people as equals, so approach your students with this humility. Create a dialogue. Let them talk and always try to find value and interest in what they say. Respect their opinion, and they will respect yours and will be empowered to think more on their own.
Set high standards for yourself and your students, and always be a truth seeker. Good teaching is hard work and requires a lot of effort and thoughtfulness inside and outside of the classroom. Always challenge your class with the appropriate level of work, but monitor this carefully for each student. Use the same grading standards for all, but in your feedback, be encouraging to those less skilled and challenge those with more confidence and mastery. Also, contact home with positive thoughts when a student does something outstanding or when his or her confidence needs a boost.

You should always strive for the truth. Present yourself as someone who facilitates truth seeking. This may require admitting you are wrong or that you do not know but will find out—or you’ll help your students find out. To seek the truth is a habit and a way of being that you can model for your students.
Be very clear on what you expect in every assignment. Important, complex, and involved assignments should be modeled as concretely as possible. Share previously completed exemplary projects and assignments with your students. Term papers and other involved projects should be completed in steps so students get feedback as they progress. When possible, give students a chance to revise their work so they (and you) can be proud of what they achieved.
Never lose the opportunity to be dramatic. If you have an inclination or flair for dramatic teaching techniques, such as those exhibited by Robin Williams in the movie Dead Poets Society, use them: stand on your desk, give a press conference as Teddy Roosevelt, have your class do the wave, draw cartoons on the board. Lose your inhibitions. It may be best to limit these at the beginning of the year, but once the ice is broken, go for it. As Miss Frizzle of The Magic School Bus says, “Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, get messy, ask questions, get answers.”
Be clear on goals for the year, unit, and day. It’s good to be spontaneous but be clear what it is you want your students to learn, understand, or demonstrate. I always had a daily agenda with my lesson goals on the board, and at the end of the period, I used it for closure.
Be a moral agent. Many educators feel uncomfortable imparting values and morals in teaching, but I feel strongly that teachers must be moral agents. They must be strong moral examples and expect the same behaviors from their students. The principles of human dignity, justice, and equality are standards to exemplify and reinforce. Teachers should not belittle anyone, and students shouldn’t either. A racist, a thief, a liar, or a bully in the classroom should not be tolerated but should be handled without sacrificing that person’s dignity.
Be centered and focus on the positive aspects of teaching students. For those of us who are intensely self-critical, teaching can be a daily roller coaster of emotional bliss and great despair—especially when things go wrong. Although a lesson’s failure is often an opportunity to learn, one must realize that teaching success or failure can be dictated by factors beyond a teacher’s control, such as the time of day, the mood and attitude of students, or students’ familial or social troubles. Teachers must be centered and confident and know that all they can do is their best—and then let the chips fall where they may.

It’s important to keep some inner peace and a sense of humor as a teacher and not have your mood be dependent on whether you were successful or not that day. I used to have a sign in my room that said, “Every day in here is a battle against ignorance. Who won today?” It helped me get through those occasional bad days when ignorance won more often than I would have liked.

Effective teaching depends on consistent monitoring of student learning, but as a teacher, you should always do this with kindness and forgiveness. Do whatever you can to be centered and not overreact to the outcome of one or two classes, the challenges of student learning, or the behavior of one or two students. Things are often not as bad as you think—and even if they are bad, you should remember that you can lose some battles and still win the war. In short, be gracious and kind to yourself as well as your students.

Keep these lessons in mind:
1. Often your worst class will end up being one of your best classes by the end of the year. (Unfortunately, the reverse is also true.)
2. A few students can ruin a class if you let them. In a class where one or more students turn things sour, don’t let it ruin your feelings for the entire class. When a class has you down, focus and reinforce what is good about that class. Take time to get to know the quiet and more productive students and offer your best to them. You still need to address the challenging students as best you can, but don’t let that ruin your effort to teach the others.
  
  In the worst case scenarios, I just accepted the fact that I could not change a student or a group of students. I just went with them and never threw in the towel. Like in a marriage, you need to accept the unpleasant things in your relationship and focus on and nurture the good things.
Be persistent in your own desire to grow and learn. Teaching is both a science and an art form that can always be improved. The day teachers feel they know it all is the day they’ll lose the excitement and curiosity of teaching. Cultivate the habit of always looking for new resources, new methods, new ideas, and better ways of being and doing. Keep a professional list of things you want to remember to do and change, and keep working on these items a little at a time.

These 10 items are just some humble suggestions on “being” as a classroom teacher. I hope some of them are helpful to you. Teaching is a wonderful and rewarding profession. Be patient and kind to yourself, and remember that good teaching takes lots of time and effort.

Make sure you and your classes are among those awake.

On Teaching Techniques and Methods (Part One)

Elliott Seif

April 17, 2023

Categories: Instruction, Student Engagement

On Teaching Techniques and Methods: Reflections of an Experienced Teacher

By Ralph Rhodes, retired social studies teacher, Council Rock High School, Newtown, Pennsylvania

Edited by Elliott Seif, author of Teaching for Lifelong Learning: How to Prepare Students for a Changing World

Editor’s note: Many years ago, I worked with Ralph Rhodes who, upon his retirement from teaching, wrote this paper with the intention of passing on some of his teaching wisdom to others. I have divided his reflections into two separate blogs—this one on “doing,” i.e., teaching techniques and methods, and the second on “being” or determining who you are in the classroom, which will be posted at a later date.

I have edited his work to make it more general and fit with today’s times, but there is a lot of wisdom about teaching at any level that is presented here. Enjoy!

My fellow educators:

Over the last 22 years, I have consistently evaluated my own teaching. For 10 of those years, I have had my students do the same. The following teaching techniques, methods, and suggestions come from these self and student critiques. Since we all have our own teaching styles, these suggestions may or may not be appropriate for you. However, I hope you will find some of these teaching techniques and methods useful in your own teaching situations.

Build mystery and inquiry into your lessons.

Often, I found that students had lost the ability to figure out and seek out answers to problems after many years of schooling. One way to rekindle this ability is to bring challenges to students in the form of puzzles and games. For example, I would sometimes bring to class a little-known relic from a time period under study and have students ask 20 questions to guess what it is.

Another idea: Present problems for them to solve and have resources ready for them to use to find answers. For example, I created a mystery game where each student was given a short clue on an index card, and I would ask students to work together as a class to figure out “whodunit” or what caused it.

Review, review, and more review.

Avoid a “hit-and-run curriculum.” Make sure you know what your goals are, teach to your goals, and then review, review, review. Share your goals on what you want your students to learn in a specific time frame and always try to end the time by asking them to demonstrate what you taught them. Make a strong effort to start each day reviewing what you did the day before. Give one or more quizzes as review and discussion before any big unit test. Offer a midterm as a formative assessment, even if it is not required. Find a way to review and apply what they learned in other units. Have them keep a vocabulary list, personalize learning in a journal, or complete reinforcing homework assignments. The more ways you can get them to interact with the material, review, summarize, synthesize, etc., the better.

Use props and other methods to make learning more concrete.

Find ways to use props and other means to demonstrate and explain key ideas and turn the abstract into something concrete. I would bring in a fan and a vacuum cleaner to demonstrate how the Federal Reserve Bank tries to raise and lower the money supply to influence inflation or recessions. I would create a chain reaction using six mouse traps, six ping pong balls and a dart gun to illustrate how the assassination of an archduke caused World War I. I drew cartoon characters or told a story to illustrate important ideas.

Don’t hesitate to be a technique thief; ask other teachers what they do to teach a topic and make the learning more concrete—what props, methods, stories, and other means they use.

Be aware of the learning environment.

Do what you can to make a classroom comfortable. Monitor classroom temperature and air circulation. Make sure all kids see the board and adjust the seating to fit the lesson and the style of teaching to promote a more student-centered and less teacher-dominated classroom. Use a circle or other more open arrangement so students can talk to each other and not have their backs to each other.

Find out how your students individually learn.

Use diagnostic tests, teacher observations, and other means to note differences in how students learn. Try your best to provide for these differences.

For example, take into account differences between primarily visual and kinesthetic-tactile learners with large index cards, each listing a key vocabulary word or the cause of a major historical event. Each card may have a different color to reinforce differences. You can put magnetic tape on the back of each card and place the cards on the board, rearrange the order, or have students do the matching and sorting. This display, which takes into account student differences in learning, is helpful in teaching and in reviewing. It’s also great for teaching cause and effect, understanding key concepts, and sorting, sequencing, and determining cause and effect.

When teaching a difficult abstract concept, I would often stop my lesson and have students pair with a neighbor to explain it in their own way or make a drawing to better understand it.

Get as many students engaged as possible.

It’s easy to let a few students dominate class involvement. To get greater numbers of students engaged, I sometimes called on students who were quiet. If this is painful for the terminally shy, you can find other ways for them to share in the lesson, such as writing their thoughts down in a journal before sharing. If you want to improve class participation, ask a question and then let them write an answer down, share it with a partner, and then share it with the class. This think-pair-share technique takes more time but it promotes more discussion and gets more students involved.

Also, make it clear to your students that teaching and learning is a two-way street. I would often start the year with a communication game where I asked my students to draw an object I was thinking of while I used only verbal descriptions of the object, not allowing any student questions or requests. I would go fast, use difficult vocabulary, and be purposefully vague. When my verbal explanation for a simple airplane ended up looking like abstract art or a house on their papers, I would ask them what was missing in this learning experience, and they would usually answer by saying that what’s missing are their questions and their requests for me to slow down, to define key words, and to give more exact explanations. I would then do it again with a new object and allow questions and other feedback, making teaching and learning a two-way street. This set the tone for each year.

Create a research component for each unit and end with some kind of fun culminating activity.

Research activities, where students find and evaluate information to help them answer questions, develop projects, and more not only teaches students many useful skills but also allows them the freedom to explore additional topics that interest them in a unit. Culminating activities, such as mock trials, personal diaries or scrapbooks, posters, or debates, offer students a chance to apply and reinforce what they have learned, and helps them anchor what was taught in their long-term memory.

Develop an open classroom environment with clear limits you can enforce.

I like an open classroom, where students have a chance to frequently participate and even confront me while also having some clear limits. My classroom rule was that students must show respect for others and use respectful language in the classroom. I made sure to follow the same rules, and when I needed to confront students, I did it respectfully and with dignity.

Also, I would always try to make confrontations as private as possible. I would deal early with problem students in order to nip the problem in the bud and prevent potentially difficult and challenging situations from getting worse. I made it a point to chat with their other teachers, talk with guidance personnel, or call home if appropriate. I also made an effort to take into account the positive traits and strengths of all students and used positive reinforcement as much as possible.

Teach by building on what students have in their “cerebral data bank.”

I made a strong effort to find out what my students were thinking about and what their experiences were so I could better connect with them. I would try to learn what they watched on TV, what they did on social media, what music they liked, what movies they’d seen, what issues were important to them. When possible, I integrated what I knew about them into my teaching.

When appropriate, cultivate a childlike atmosphere in class.

How can we get back to a time when students were eager to learn and most were very willing to get involved and eagerly give an answer to a question? I believe that it first requires that we as teachers have a childlike spirit. All of us need to look for reasons to be children again.

To try to get students to rekindle the desire to participate often and with enthusiasm, I sometimes told them to bring their desks closer together for a story and had them pretend they just had their cookies, milk and a nap. One year, I came into class singing and pretending to be Mr. Rogers, and then I told a story relevant to the lesson.

One suggestion: Walk around the class often, making quality eye contact and personal comments to those who are not big class participants. Develop an unusual walk or gestures to add to your lessons. Figure out your own ways to rekindle a childlike excitement. Your students may think you are strange, but this attitude will reawaken curiosity and interest, and your lessons will stick with your students and rekindle the spirit that makes a classroom come alive.

Ten Reasons Why Strong Arts Education Programs Are Critical for Living in Today’s and Tomorrow’s World

Elliott Seif

March 14, 2023

Categories:

Elliott Seif is the author of Teaching for Lifelong Learning: How to Prepare Students for a Changing World.

In two previous blogs, I identified many reasons for building strong science and social studies programs for students, K–12. In this blog, I identify ten key reasons why a comprehensive K–12 arts program should also be a critical component of a rich education that prepares students for living in today’s and tomorrow’s world.

Unfortunately, in too many schools and districts, the arts are considered less important than other subjects and are given short shrift as part of a student’s K–12 educational experience. In my estimation, rich, comprehensive arts programs are a critical component of a strong education because they have a powerful impact on attitudes towards school and learning and help develop important understandings, skills and habits of mind. Arts education programs also develop student interests and talents, prepare students for living a full life and, for some, lead to career choices in music and dance, visual arts, and the theater, among others.

Here are my ten powerful reasons for developing strong, rich, and comprehensive school arts programs.

Most children like arts education and actively engage in school through the arts.
Let’s face it—for the most part, children like arts education! They are engaged, interested and involved. Arts education is usually “hands on,” has immediate rewards, focuses on positive achievements and results, develops concrete products, and fosters collaboration and successful achievement. There are many opportunities for students to “show off” and demonstrate their skills through authentic performance. For some students, arts education is the main reason why they come to school and stay in school.
Children learn growth habits, positive behaviors and attitudes through the arts.
The arts enable children to grow in confidence, learn ways to improve learning, and think positively about themselves and learning. Learning a musical instrument, creating a painting, learning to dance, or singing in a chorus teaches that taking small steps, using feedback to improve, practicing to get better at something, and being persistent and patient even in the face of adversity are important for growth and improvement. In other words, the arts teach growth habits, behaviors, and attitudes that can be applied to any field of endeavor.
The arts help students develop critical intellectual skills.
The arts foster the learning of critical skills that carry over to learning other subjects and in life. For example, through the arts, children learn to observe (“What do you see in a painting?”); interpret (“How should we play this music?”); see different perspectives (“What is the artist’s perspective? What is your perspective?”); analyze (“What if we take apart this play and study each part separately?”); and synthesize (“How do all the parts of the dance fit together to create a whole?”).
The arts enhance creativity and creative thinking.
Imagine an art class in which students create an original canvas filled with color and creative use of space; a music class where they develop their own rhythms and music interpretations; a theater class where they create and produce their own interpretation of plays and/or their own original plays. In other words, the arts are a wonderful arena for fostering creative thinking, inventiveness, and originality—important skills to have in a rapidly changing world.
The arts teach students methods for learning language and literacy skills.
As students learn to read musical notes, play an instrument, learn dance steps, create a painting, act in a drama, or interpret a script, they are also building reading skills, learning how to develop new concepts, building new vocabulary, and learning a new language.
The arts help students learn mathematics.
The arts require measurement, number manipulation, and proportional thinking—all of which foster mathematical thinking. Students also learn about patterns (e.g., musical rhythms and dance patterns); spatial and geometric relationships (e.g., visual art patterns); and three-dimensional measurement skills (e.g., making models of clay).
The arts broaden and enrich learning in other subjects.
Artworks provide a visual context for learning about, interpreting, and analyzing historical periods. Music, painting, theater, and dance help literature come alive. Graphic designs and drawings, such as those made by inventors and engineers, complement learning about scientific and technological principles and innovations.
Aesthetic learning is important in its own right.
The arts teach about beauty, proportion, and grace. The power of the arts is in their wondrous ability to give us joy, help us understand tragedy, promote empathy, and make the written word come alive. They help students examine conflict, power, emotion, and life itself. For many, the arts become part of the richness of living over the course of a lifetime.
Artistic talents and interests are nurtured and developed.
Through the arts, many children discover their talents and interests and find a way to do something productive with their life. They develop career interests, talents, and hobbies related to acting, theater production, painting, graphic design, music, dance, sculpture, or creative writing that they will enjoy and use throughout their lives.
The arts teach teamwork and collaboration. Children learn tolerance and understanding of others.
Through the arts, children learn how to work together to achieve great things. For example, they learn how teamwork contributes to a great theater or musical performance, a mural, or a dance. By teaching students how to work and live together, the arts contribute to making schools and the entire community safer and more peaceful.

Implications

In sum, extensive and excellent art education programs foster important and enjoyable learning experiences, positive attitudes toward school and learning, significant learning across many subject areas, creative thinking, teamwork, the understanding of new career options, talent development, and many other learning and life experiences. Arts programs can make a big difference in the life of every child, and every student should have the opportunity to participate in a strong, multidimensional arts program throughout their educational experience. The arts can have a powerful impact on children and learning, and they can make a significant difference in children’s lives. What it takes is commitment, support, understanding, and hard work to make sure the arts are a significant and meaningful part of every school program in the country.

Ten Reasons Why a Strong Social Studies Education Is Critical for Living in Today’s and Tomorrow’s World

Elliott Seif

February 21, 2023

Categories: 21st Century Skills

Elliott Seif is the author of Teaching for Lifelong Learning: How to Prepare Students for a Changing World.

In my last Solution Tree blog, “Why We Need K–12 High-Quality Science Instruction in a 21st Century World,” I identified twelve reasons why every child needs to have the opportunity to participate in a strong, coherent, inquiry-oriented science program. In this blog, I will explore ten important reasons why a strong, coherent social studies program, beginning in the earliest grades through high school, should be an important goal for all schools today.

Unfortunately, the quality of the social studies program has often been neglected in many schools and districts. In the primary and elementary grades, teachers and schools often limit the teaching of social studies or water down the teaching in order to pay more attention to tested subjects, such as English/language arts and mathematics. Secondary social studies is often taught through textbooks and survey courses that cover content and ignore interesting, meaningful, active, in-depth learning, a focus on understanding, and the teaching of critical skills such as thinking and writing.

Here are ten reasons why we need a revitalized, strong, coherent, and comprehensive social studies program at all grade levels:

Social studies provides students with a broad and relevant knowledge base that helps them better understand and deal with today’s complex world.

Knowledge and understanding of crucial concepts and ideas in American and world history—such as the diversity of American and world cultures and communities, key geographic knowledge and concepts, an understanding of America’s democratic heritage, and basic economic concepts and theory—as well as important concepts from other social science disciplines are critical for an enlarged understanding the place of each individual in the world in which we live, America’s place in the world, and the role of informed citizens in a democratic society.

Social studies helps students develop understanding and positive values that build a common foundation among Americans.

Students are able to build common understanding and a common set of values that transcend geographic boundaries and create a concept of America as one nation. These include stories and narratives about great Americans; the ideals, principles, rights and values tied to the American Revolution and found within the Constitution; the geography and demographics of America; why we fought the Civil War and in World Wars I and II; slavery and the civil rights movement; the importance of immigration to America; Manifest Destiny; market economy principles; the Cold War; common problems Americans face today; and many other key ideas.

Social studies teaches students how to be thoughtful, active citizens in a democratic society.

Students develop an understanding of current issues and events, and develop the context through which to analyze these issues and events and consider alternative perspectives and solutions. Social studies is also how students learn to actively participate in American democratic institutions—through field trips to the courts and governing bodies, learning how to register to vote, community service, and other means.

Social studies is a key vehicle for developing literacy, math and other critical skills, such as the use of evidence, research, argumentation, writing, speaking, listening, numeracy, and data collection and analysis.

From an early age, students should read and analyze varied fiction and nonfiction texts, learn important concepts and vocabulary about history and the world around them, learn how important evidence is for accuracy of opinions and ideas, conduct research and write essays and reports, develop and conduct surveys, interpret and use graphs, and in general develop and reinforce important and vital skills necessary for living in a 21st century world.

By engaging in social studies inquiry, students learn how to be capable, collaborative problem-solvers.

Through essential questions, discussions, persuasive essays and other means, students work together to learn how to discuss, use evidence, and reflect on and solve problems, such as issues about the environment, poverty, race, class, economics, and politics.

Social studies develops critical and creative thinking skills.

Students in social studies classes discern patterns, analyze and interpret maps, take apart arguments, and invent new solutions to challenging problems.

Social studies is a powerful vehicle for creating interdisciplinary, integrated school programs.

Many elementary teachers, along with diverse secondary subject area teachers, can create interdisciplinary programs around social studies themes like community, environment and human interaction, conflict, change, and adaptation. History can be integrated with literature, social studies topics can be infused with science and math, and the arts can help students understand historical events.

Social studies helps to educate and prepare future leaders.

As students learn about positive leadership in America and throughout the world, consider difficult issues throughout history and how they were solved, examine current issues and ways people try to solve them, and take part in civic activities, they build an understanding of leadership and what it takes to be an effective leader.

Social studies promotes self-understanding and the understanding of other peoples and cultures.

Social studies helps students understand their own backgrounds, the values and diverse backgrounds and experiences of Americans, and the wide variety of cultures and customs of people around the world and at other periods in history.

Social studies provides students with important practical information and skills that can be used in their everyday lives.

In social studies classes, students learn skills for financial literacy, career options, how to register and vote, and other important practical skills.

Implications
Based on these crucial reasons for creating a strong, comprehensive social studies program, social studies should be given a prominent place throughout the curriculum, beginning in the earliest grades. If social studies are to fulfill the important goals outlined above, there must be a greater emphasis on building a strong, coherent K–12 curriculum that uses multiple resources and powerful instructional strategies. This requires a belief that social studies is as important as reading, math, and any other subject, and that it should be given significant financial support and provided with effective professional development at all levels.

Follow-up reading:
Seif, E. (2003). Social Studies Revived. Educational Leadership, 61, 54–59. https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/social-studies-revived

Why We Need K–12 High-Quality Science Instruction in a 21st Century World

Elliott Seif

January 24, 2023

Categories: 21st Century Skills

Elliott Seif is the author of Teaching for Lifelong Learning: How to Prepare Students for a Changing World.

This is the first of three essays that will describe why powerful instruction is important in three content areas: science, social studies, and the arts. This first essay examines the many reasons why good science teaching is so important for preparing students to live in today’s and tomorrow’s world.
I argue here that an important part of a liberal arts education is a strong science education that, among other things, develops a sophisticated understanding of the natural world and offers deep insights into the nature of scientific investigation. Unfortunately, too few school districts today create comprehensive, inquiry-based, high-quality science programs at all levels, kindergarten through high school. Other priorities, such as time limitations, lack of attention, fragmentation, or a traditional coverage-based focus, all conspire to reduce the effectiveness and excellence of science programs in many schools and districts.

Here are one dozen reasons why we must counter these trends and why schools and districts must find ways to provide high-quality science teaching and learning for all children at all educational levels.

1. Learning science is interesting, meaningful, and motivating.
Science questions provoke curiosity and interest in the wonders of the natural world. Students learn to focus on science as a series of mysteries to be explored through interesting questions, such as “What is the nature of the universe?” “How does life exist?” “Why do things grow?” Learning science also provides students with an understanding of its massive contributions to everyday living and the comforts of life. Science programs provide an important avenue for helping students to develop a passion for inquiry and a better understanding of the world around us.

2. Science knowledge provides us with a basic understanding of the natural world.
Scientific knowledge helps us to understand the natural world around us, such as the vastness and characteristics of the universe, how species adapt and survive, the nature of matter, and so many other important insights. Every educated person needs to be provided with background knowledge on what has been already discovered and what is currently being explored in science.

3. Science teaches students to be “skeptics” about claims of truth and to look for rigorous evidence to support statements claiming to be true. Science builds on the idea that knowledge is tentative, subject to change, and that changes to knowledge, theory and understanding, based on rigorous research and experimentation, are an important part of the learning process.

Too many students come away from school thinking that knowledge is fixed and immutable and that there is always a right answer. Good science programs teach students a very important lesson: that knowledge is tentative, changing, and subject to tests of evidence. For example, a study of Galileo’s or Einstein’s discoveries help students to understand that what once was thought to be “correct” turned out to be wrong; that supposedly “accurate” knowledge needs to be tested; research studies need replication; and theory is only an empty idea until there is valid evidence to support and explain it. This “scientific” attitude—the tentativeness of knowledge and the need for evidence to support claims of truth—is important to learn today, in light of so many spurious claims made without evidence that are often believed by too many people.

4. Science promotes democratic thinking and democratic values.
Science teaches children to be open to new ideas and new ways of thinking in order to resolve problems. Conflicts in science are resolved peacefully through discussion, persuasive argument, further investigation, and the rigorous collection of evidence. Scientists learn to “disagree without being disagreeable.” Thoughtful criticism is the norm, not the exception. The expectation is that, as Einstein once said, “critical comments should be taken in a friendly spirit.”

5. Science builds positive lifelong learning habits, behaviors, and attitudes.
Good science programs emphasize the value of continuous inquiry. Students learn to solve problems and answer questions by taking small steps, being persistent, having patience, and overcoming adversity. They learn that finding “truth” is often messy and inconclusive. Science teaches that successful achievement and learning often require experimentation, trial and error, making mistakes, even failure. In other words, science teaches habits, behaviors, and attitudes that support self-directed, autonomous, lifelong learning.

6. Science develops critical intellectual skills, including creativity and imagination as well as tolerance for and adaptation to change.
Science fosters the development of critical and creative thinking skills that carry over to learning other subjects and daily living. Through science, children learn to:

Ask “what if” questions
Carefully observe: “What do you see happening to this plant as it grows?”
Interpret and hypothesize: “Why do you think this is happening?”
Conduct experiments: “How can we prove it?”
Consider many alternatives
See different perspectives and points of view: “What are different points of view about why this happened?”
Analyze: “What are its component parts?”
Synthesize: “How does this all fit together into a pattern? What are the connections and relationships?”
Test solutions
Draw conclusions: “What are our results? Conclusions? Why?”

Students learn how to create an argument with supporting evidence to justify a point of view and to question opinions that have little backing to support them. Science teaches students that change and adaptation is part of the nature of learning and growing by testing new ideas and adapting to changing circumstances.

7. Science builds reading and “learning to learn” skills.
Good science programs build strong reading skills! As students investigate physical forces, chemical reactions, biological growth, or the solar system, they also learn how to read a variety of science resources, understand new concepts, build vocabulary and background knowledge, and learn the language of science and science inquiry. The investigation skills they learn are a significant part of the “learning to learn” skills they will need for college and future careers.

8. Science helps students to learn and apply mathematical thinking.
Math is the language of science. As students learn science, they learn that mathematics is an important tool to help solve real problems and questions. As students “do” science, they learn how to measure, manipulate numbers, collect and analyze data, form patterns, develop spatial and geometric relationships, and apply many of the higher level and complex math systems to scientific problem solving.

9. Science enriches learning in other subjects.
All subject areas benefit when a student understands science concepts and ideas. For example, science concepts are helpful for understanding historical forces, technological and social changes over time, and current issues and concerns, such as global warming. Science problems can be used to help students understand and apply measurement skills and statistical analysis. The arts are integrated into science through graphic designs and drawings that complement learning about scientific and technological principles and innovations. Science concepts are intertwined with understanding healthy living habits and good nutrition.

10. Science develops teamwork skills.
Through science, children learn how to work together to investigate, test hypotheses, interpret data, and draw conclusions. As they work together, they learn to understand and tolerate difference and diversity. They learn how teamwork contributes to significant learning. Science can also contribute to making schools safer and more peaceful by teaching students how to work together and resolve conflicts.

11. Science creates a growing interest in and preparation for expanding career opportunities.
High-quality science program experiences develop scientific talents and interests. They encourage students to prepare to work in the growing science-related professions, as scientists, health care professionals, technicians, and other science-related fields.

12. Scientific understanding is critical for good citizenship in a 21st century world.
An understanding of science, science concepts, how science arrives at results, and science research is critical if students are to become intelligent citizens in a democratic society. An understanding of today’s complex issues, concerns, challenges and problems require an understanding of scientific principles, concepts, and ideas. Global warming is the most obvious, but others include what to do about atomic waste, how to get clean water, agriculture and food issues, health and illness, hurricane damage prevention, energy issues, automation and robotics.

Conclusion

Every child should have the opportunity to participate in a strong, coherent, inquiry-oriented science program. It should be a priority for 21st century world education. Science education can have a powerful impact on children and learning, and it can make a significant difference in the lives of children.

Teachers, boards of education, superintendents, principals, the community at large, and governments need to make a commitment to support and develop high-quality science programs at all levels, K–12. There are many ways to do this—for example, to widely share and discuss these twelve reasons on why it is critical to develop strong science programs. Teachers and schools then need to adopt high-quality science curricula at all levels. This will require the development of teachers’ science knowledge and skills, to train teachers on how to incorporate high-quality science experiences into their classrooms, to involve local science organizations in promoting and fostering high-quality programs, to apply for funds to implement and support high-quality science programs at all levels, and, ultimately, to develop competent science educators in every school and at all levels.