Energy Sciences

Teaching Strategies

I need something to connect our students on day one to our class and the content in a positive way. Therefore, I will start the year and unit with a survey. Dr. Judy Willis, author of Learning to Love Math: Teaching strategies that change student attitudes and gets results, believes collecting information about your students is an effective way to get what we need to link them to topics through interest or integration of information about them into math problems. ²⁹ My survey will serve a dual purpose of collecting biographical information about my students' prior experience in math class and an assessing their knowledge of energy and energy efficiency habits. The survey may pique students' interest in how the information will be used. Teachers can encourage real-world connections through inductive reasoning by having students make predictions and, as we go through implementation of the unit, provide prizes to those who were accurate or close. Making real world connections integrates creative problem solving, communication, collaboration, and critical analysis, all of which are 21 ^st century skills we want our students to have. ³⁰

According to Willis, 50% percent of high school students living in large U.S. cities drop out of school. This creates a phenomenon in which there is a likelihood the parents of our students will have graduated from high school rather than our students graduate. ³¹ One reason for high dropout rates is boredom and relevance of content to their life. Speakers can help students recognize how the math concepts and skills learned in class relate to careers they might find appealing. ³² Dominion Virginia Power's Speakers Bureau conducts free educational presentations to schools. I will invite them to my class for two visits. During the first visit, the speaker will focus on the basics of electricity (how it is generated, distributed and used) and renewables (how they play a part in the diverse mix of energy sources). The second visit will focus on energy conservation and careers with one of the nation's leading energy companies.

Additional teaching strategies will include demonstrations, hands-on-activities to include inquiry-based learning opportunities, and discrepant events that illustrate scientific principles related to energy. Grabbing the attention of our students at the beginning of the lesson and throughout the lesson through one of these media creates cognitive dissonance. By creating disequilibrium, our students innately feel this vehement need to find a greater understanding of why the outcome did not match their prediction. Students are totally engaged at this point and it is our job to pounce on the opportunity to educate directly or indirectly. Some of the activities I can facilitate/perform and explain while others will be explained by our science teachers.