1. Curriculum and Instruction
a. I believe that all students have the right to a quality secular education where they are allowed to think critically about any and all issues surrounding their lives.
b. I believe this because I have found that students sometimes lack the ability to reason about things logically. Instead, opting to go with the opinions of others rather than forming their own.
c. Aspects of the new science standards, that are to be implemented in full in a few years, promote that students find the answers to many scientific questions on their own, promoting independent and critical thinking.
d. For example, when looking for how animals survive in the cold, students will actually experiment with different materials to make their own cold coverings and try them out. Students are encouraged to ask, explore, and draw conclusions on their own rather than memorizing facts.
e. This type of critical thinking extends beyond science, it leads into the other subject areas as well such as history. Students that are more critical of new ideas and old ones, are better able to analyze, interpret, and digest them. They can then form their own informed opinions and interpretations.
f. The new Next Generation Science Standards that California will implement in a few years are a great way to have students thinking critically. They promote a need to be inquisitive and not take things at face value. They emphasize how it not important to memorize facts and know every detail, but rather synthesizing information of all types to form their own interpretation of how things work. They promote the different scientific principles that will help students understand the world that they live in. This critical way of thinking will only serve to help students later in life when they become scientists, lawyers, politicians, parents, or even just a voting citizen.
a. I believe that all students have the right to a quality secular education where they are allowed to think critically about any and all issues surrounding their lives.
b. I believe this because I have found that students sometimes lack the ability to reason about things logically. Instead, opting to go with the opinions of others rather than forming their own.
c. Aspects of the new science standards, that are to be implemented in full in a few years, promote that students find the answers to many scientific questions on their own, promoting independent and critical thinking.
d. For example, when looking for how animals survive in the cold, students will actually experiment with different materials to make their own cold coverings and try them out. Students are encouraged to ask, explore, and draw conclusions on their own rather than memorizing facts.
e. This type of critical thinking extends beyond science, it leads into the other subject areas as well such as history. Students that are more critical of new ideas and old ones, are better able to analyze, interpret, and digest them. They can then form their own informed opinions and interpretations.
f. The new Next Generation Science Standards that California will implement in a few years are a great way to have students thinking critically. They promote a need to be inquisitive and not take things at face value. They emphasize how it not important to memorize facts and know every detail, but rather synthesizing information of all types to form their own interpretation of how things work. They promote the different scientific principles that will help students understand the world that they live in. This critical way of thinking will only serve to help students later in life when they become scientists, lawyers, politicians, parents, or even just a voting citizen.