I am studying to be a high school physics
teacher, so in Mexico I will mostly be focusing on their science education. Science education, especially physics, is
taught with a very distinct style when compared to other fields. English, History,
Geography, and Math generally display their fruits on paper, while most sciences
principles are best conceptualized trough experiments and observations. A physicist
will teach momentum best not with explanations, but by demonstrating collisions
with toy cars. Sound is understood by listening to different tuning forks and how
they interact with one another. A class
may start out with the teacher showing an abnormality or a phenomenon in nature
and challenge the students to explain what causes its abnormal behavior. This interactive
learning style I call the engaging factor.
I became hooked on physics my junior year
in high school. We did an experiment with a cannon that launched golf balls. We
were first explained the fundamental principle of projective motion and Newton’s
equations, but then we were given the chance to prove Newton’s laws worked. We were
divided up into pairs and given a launch angle and the challenged to predict where
the golf ball would land if launched at our angle. After making our
predictions we would place a small empty cup where we calculated the ball would
land. I remember that my partner and I were the only ones in the class
who predicted accurately enough so that when the gold ball was launched, it
landed right in our small plastic cup. That idea of being able to predict the
projectile motion of that ball fascinated me. Nature could be predicted. From
that day on physics became my favorite subject.
The engagement factor inspired me in a way
paper work could not. It has shaped my future. My choice career sprouted off of
those engaging experiences I had in that classroom. I owe a lot to my high school physics teacher,
Mr. Holtz, for how he taught me. With
that said, I want to express a worry. If Mexican schools are low in funding and
resources, I worry the engagement factor in their science classrooms is
minimal.
My goal in going to Mexico is not to
change that, I can’t. But if a foreign student enters an American science classroom
with very little enthusiasm for the topic, it might just be it was never
presented to him in an interesting manner; and that might be exactly what he
needs to want to succeed in the class.
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