Entrance Slip Nov 12th: Permitting Creativity in Science

 Please write about three 'stops' that you find while considering this piece in relationship to your own inquiry process and that of your students.

"When a hypothesis, or "what everyone knows,"turns out to be not so, the results might be unexpected, inexplicable, and worth double checking, but they cannot be in any sense wrong"(p.311). This statement made me think about my own experience in the classroom during my short practicum. I was teaching a Science 10 Honours class in which students enjoyed participating. We were discussing life and life's definition and how it is changing. A student came up with and shared her own adapted definition of life. I was trying to keep the lesson on schedule but I realize now I should have spent more time making inquiries towards the students on that topic. Sometimes, when a new idea is offered, especially in science, it is hard to stray from the "well walked path". I feared saying something that was incorrect in my own mind. 

"We become taxonomists, classifiers, dog catchers whose goal it seems is to leave nothing running around loose." (p.313). This made be think about the actual profession of categorizing animals into genera and species. In preparing for a class on Darwinism, I learned that a number of different species of pigeon had the common ancestor of the rock pigeon and that they had been created through artificial selection. Yet, a taxonomist would claim they are different species because they have different traits. Through this analogy, when categorizing our ideas, we are limiting the possibilities in our ideas of outcome during an experiment and creating a prediction bias.

"Initially, you must generate the examples and develop a schema on your own." (p.318). I found this interesting. I have always thought collaboration through ideas was one of the most important processes of science. But it makes sense that an idea that is yours is yours alone. People need time to process what they think of and what interests them. Normally, I take a moment after reading articles and journals to gather my thoughts before writing them down. I wait before I begin telling others what is on my mind. This is something to consider when doing demos and showing videos to students and giving them time to gather their thoughts before sharing them with everyone else.