Student Question

In my second grade class, I will begin my science lesson by bringing in a collection of rocks with many different characteristics. I will show the students my rocks and ask them how I can organize these rocks by how they look. I will pass around the rocks so that the students can feel their different textures and look at their various colors. I will model how to categorize the rocks first on the board by writing the word "rough", and showing the students a rock that is "rough" to touch. After this I will have students raise their hands and share an attribute/characteristic that they thought of as they were looking at and feeling the rocks. We will create 4 different categories to sort our rocks into as a class. Then, I will have the students work in groups to categorize four rocks of their own. After this activity, we will all come together and I will ask them what they learned from today. I will also tell them that today we conducted a science experiment. I will ask them what they think science is, writing their ideas on the board. Then I will tell them a simple definition of science and write that definition on a poster that will hang in the room for the next couple weeks. I will explain that today we were doing science through observation, which is "looking" at things around us.
We will continue our discussion on science the next day and the students will add rocks they found at their homes to their project from the day before. We will display every groups' project in the classroom.

Discussion with Colleagues

The role of science in society is complicated. Our society is based off of technological and medical advances; all originating from science. And, we rely on these advances as a way of life. But, a conflict in interests does arise when we live our lives surrounded by science, while at the same time relying on other supernatural forces to lead us in the right direction. This conflict is often the cause of skirmishes and disagreement around the world. We know that science holds up the lives we live, but who is to say that it is the only force out there that shapes our lives? And, this is exactly my point. Every person is different and their beliefs vary with their differences, so who has the authority to say that someone is right and another person is wrong? I don't think anyone can really answer this, but at least we can acknowledge, especially as teachers, that everyone is different and we must respect what they think the role of science is in our world. And in fact, I think these differences make our world interesting and open many peoples' eyes to things that they may have never witnessed before. It is all part of life and growing and hopefully becoming a better person.