Educators demonstrate a broad knowledge base and an understanding of areas they teach.
As a new teacher I plan to bring the expertise I have gained from my undergraduate degree, experience as an environmental consultant, and the knowledge that I have gained through my interests into the classroom to give students learning experiences that are accurate and representative of the world around them. I will be able to use the methods of experimentation and iteration that I learned in my undergraduate degree and my time in the workforce to model to students how to approach and work through problems in the classroom and in the world at large. My experience living in other cultures, namely West Bengal and South China and my knowledge of how these cultures interact with the world around them will help me to contextualize and frame science learning in ways that are appropriate across multiple cultures.
One example of using my interests to bring context to learning was in my Science 10 classroom in the EDUC 490 practicum where we were discussing reaction types. My interest in the automotive industry provided me with the example of electrolysis of water that is used to provide hydrogen for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. This is an example of a decomposition reaction that is endothermic, this practical example can be used to give students a context for two reaction classifications while also letting them think about a way other than direct electrical storage in batteries that electrical energy can be “stored” in a different form to then be used to power a car. As a former environmental consultant and someone who is interested in environmentally conscious solutions this example can also be used to show the interconnectedness of knowledge throughout science and socials. This problem can be looked at from socioeconomic angles (economy of the automotive industry and social responsibility around climate change), as well as physics (efficiency of motion), chemistry (battery design), and environmental science (impact of these various methods on different areas of the environment).
I also believe that it is of the upmost importance as a science teacher to harness my own interests and that of my students to drive myself to research and keep up to date on the latest scientific advancements. By using my own interests, I will stay motivated to continue learning, and will show passion for the subjects I am teaching that will be evident to my students. The interests and inquiries of my students will also be an excellent way to stay current on my information with a good example of this coming in my observations in my EDUC 490 practicum where my coaching teacher was asked what the uses of gamma radiation currently are, that sparked him to do some research on the topic and come back the next day with applications like sterilization to bring to the class. As scientific advances are always being made it will be important for me to stay interested to bring my students the most up to date and relevant information so that their learning is more grounded in the current world rather than the one that I grew up and went through high school and university in.