Have you seen Astronaut Chris Hadfield's video about what happens when you wring out a washcloth in space? How about his amazing song in collaboration with Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies?
Chris Hadfield is ALWAYS willing to answer questions about space and space travel. All it takes is for you to tweet it at him! (@Cmdr_Hadfield) Sometimes, he'll even make a video for you.
So why do I bring this up? Well, I took the video about the washcloth and showed it to my students. They were amazed. "I never would have thought of that!" one of them said. "Ohhhhh so that's how surface tension works!" another exclaimed. And here I am--their Latin teacher.
THIS is what happens when you encourage curiosity and inquiry. And it's so exciting that there are people out there like Chris Hadfield reaching out to teachers and students and the general public to encourage that inquiry.
What's a scientist? one of my colleagues asks her class on the first day of school. She listens to the responses and then poses her own definition-- "A scientist is a person who never grew out of asking 'Why?'" Like a child. (This is a skill the humanities could seriously benefit from too!!) They were encouraged to figure things out. Or sometimes NOT, and they were just determined to figure it out for themselves. It's a matter of determination and giving students the TOOLS--the Courage-- to confront the situation. It's a matter of confidence.
So, this takes me back to yesterday's post and the one before that. How do we build that confidence? Maybe it starts with the message of the Song that I linked to at the top. It doesn't just start at school--it starts at home. We have no control over our students' home lives, but we can help them at school. So how do we do that anyway, especially when they are getting different messages at home and at school? What can we do to give our students the Confidence and the Courage to inquire? To never stop asking "why?"
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