My Past Experiences in Science

By: Imran Malik

September 19, 2016.

My first memories of science actually come from the home rather than school. My
father was a man of science, being a physician as well as previously working as a
scientist, so I went into school having already built an interest in science. Moving to
Canada from England at the age of 8, I was already quite far ahead in my education.
Because of this I was always studying math at an advanced level during elementary
school. However the rest of my education quickly feel back down to the level of my
peers, as it was unreasonable at the time to think that a student could have a specific plan
for him or herself when not an exceptional student.

However it was apparently deemed that I was still ahead of my age group, so
without my consultation, I was moved ahead a grade at the start of what was to be my
grade 6 year. This decision was made without any consideration for my opinion on the
move, and was a complete shock to me that day. The effect of this move would become
more apparent as I finished grade 8, a year ahead of my friends, and realized that I would
now have to go on to high school on my own.

Having a December birthday, moving me ahead a grade meant that I was now
close to 2 years younger than the majority of my classmates. At this age that was a big
difference, and I believe looking back led to me spending a lot of my energy at school
trying to fit in with a new group, instead of focusing on school itself. However, there
were certain teachers throughout my high school career that were able to break this
barrier down by creating a more social environment in their classroom, where
relationships could be built while learning. I think back to certain math, social science
and in particular physical education classes that were able to accomplish this, however
this was not always the case in my science education.

When I was in high school, technology was not the tool that it is today; therefore
the large majority of our lessons seemed to be projector-based, with the occasional lab
mixed in (none of which really stick out in my memory). Most of these projector-based
lessons included copying notes off a projector. The problem with this technique for me,
was that it while it lead to improvements in my note-taking and written skills, it also lead
to learning by the memorization of notes, not learning by understanding the topic.

To me this seemed to show a lack of caring on the part of the teacher. To assume
that students of all skill levels could write down, process, and understand the material at
the same rate showed to me a lack of commitment and engagement in student success.
While I understand the need for written skills, and the ability to read educational texts, it
always seemed to me that we were better off reading the information directly from the
text book, rather than having it re-copied and maybe slightly modified by an intermediary
source who didnt seem to really care. When I look back, this may have been a reason for
my low class attendance during the latter end of high school and even during my
undergraduate university degree.
 I did my undergraduate degree in science at the University of Western Ontario.
During my first year I quickly transformed from an ultra-confident student, who thought
he was one of the top brains in his age group, to someone who believed he was in over
his head. I found the jump in content difficulty to be overwhelming, and quickly realized
that I had not formed good study habits during my high school, in large part because it
was never needed!

Having said that, due to the extremely large class sizes, the large part of my first
two years of undergrad followed the similar format of notes posted on a projector screen
and students either copying notes from the screen, or notes were provided before hand
and students would add any additional comments during the lectures. Often information
was left blank in the slides given before the lecture as a reason to encourage students to
attend lessons to fill in the blanks.

As a whole, the first two years of university were more about weeding out those
who couldnt keep up then they were about fostering an environment where all could
reach their potential. We were forced to adapt to the teaching style of our professors, or
fall behind and potentially fail out of the program. For me this lead to me falling back on
what I knew best, read the material and memorize as much as you can, then regurgitate it
for the exam.

This lead to a common cycle, which I would use to describe my undergraduate

education as a whole; read the material, memorize as much as quickly as you can, write
the exam, forget about the material and replace it with what you need to memorize for the
next class exam. This technique proved quite successful, and allowed me to catch back
up in terms of marks with everyone else, but meanwhile the bigger picture of science and
how what we were learning fit together as a whole was eluding me.

Another major factor that stands out in my mind as something that held me back,
was my inability to asked questions during class. This was again mainly a social issue, as
fear of saying something incorrect dominated my thinking. However, when I look back,
our classes did not provide a collaborative environment, nor one where students were
encouraged to share their ideas, correct or incorrect.

It wasnt until the latter years of undergrad and during my Masters degree that
classes were finally of a manageable size, and interaction with peers started to become
more prevalent. I really believe this is when I started to get an idea of science as a whole,
and of how it fit into our everyday lives, and how it affected grand-scale world issues,
such as climate change. During these two years group presentations were quite frequently
used, which allowed my to learn from my peers, while allowing me to showcase my
presentation skills as well. I think it is great to see now that teachers are being
encouraged to use more group activities, and to assess students on a wide variety of
factors, rather than just on marks.
 Why is it important to teach the nature of science? The short answer is that the
curriculum requires it and research supports it (Nature of Science, 2011). There is a clear
message that understanding the nature of science is crucial for effective science teaching,
for valuable science learning and for responsible participation in society. Science
education research over recent decades has also shown that teaching about the nature of
science; enhances students understanding of science content, increases students interest
and helps show the human side of science.

Science gives young people the tools to understand the world around them, and
the ability to engage with contemporary and future issues, such as medical advances and
climate change (Holman, 2013). We live in an increasingly scientific and technological
society in which many personal decisions involve scientific understanding. To make
decisions on issues like these, we need to understand; what scientific knowledge is
relevant, how reliable the knowledge is, how the knowledge was generated, the limits of
the knowledge and how much confidence we can have in that knowledge (Nature of
Science, 2011). To be able to make use of science in their daily lives, students need to
have an understanding of the nature of science. Our students need to be able to evaluate,
critique and respond to data presented as scientific evidence in media reports and in
advertising (Shafter, 2015).

References

Anonymous, 2011. Reasons for teaching the nature of science. Nature

of Science. http://sciencelearn.org.nz/Nature-of-Science/Reasons-for-
teaching-the-nature-of-science. Retrieved September 2016.

Holman, John. 2013. We cannot afford to get science education wrong.

The Conversation. http://theconversation.com/we-cannot-afford-to-get-
science-education-wrong-20667. Retrieved September 2016.

Shafer, L. 2015. Why Science? Amid stem enthusiasm, stepping back to consider the
broader purpose of teaching and learning science. Usable knowledge.
https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/15/11/why-science. Retrieved September 2016.