My name is Morgan Hawkes. I like doing theatre, playing music, making things, and learning how to do new things. One of my most recent undertakings is trying to learn to ride a unicycle. I'm slowly getting there but not quite.
I'm majoring in both Physics Teaching, and composite Physical Science Teaching. I like physics and chemistry, because they teach you the basics of so many things. Why things do the things that they do, and what things are made of. One of the reasons that I decided to teach is because I like the lower levels of physics and chemistry the best. In middle and high school, I'll get to teach that.
Literacy can be defined in different ways. I think if you are literate in something, then you know the subject well, and are able to communicate it to others. Part of being able to do this is being able to read, write, and communicate well. I believe that literacy is important as an overall goal of teaching. In physics and chemistry being able to read, write and communicate is essential. Homework, lecture, demonstrations, labs, and pretty much everything in class requires it. Not being able to do so can be quite dangerous depending on what we're doing in class. In labs for example, bad communication with lab partners, or not reading instructions properly could lead to explosions, burns, and other injuries.
I appreciated your definition of science texts. I actually think that science texts are among the most difficult to read. I'm thinking here of the Periodic Table of Elements...if you don't understand how it works, you arguably can't be "literate" in chemistry.
ReplyDeleteThe great thing about science is that these printed texts can almost always be paired with physical texts--that is, they can be paired with observations or manipulations of the natural world. I think these pairings are what help to make printed science texts more comprehensible.
Thanks for your first posting, and I look forward to reading more as the semester progresses.