Pity the preservice teacher: always being told to reflect but without knowing exactly why. In truth, the whole idea behind reflection was to encourage professionals to contemplate their work. But as with too many good ideas, reflection has become a routine and ritual that has lost its original purpose and value. What was supposed to be an intellectual activity and disposition has dissolved into a standardized writing assignment.
It is important to uncover our preconceptions about education. Self-reflexivity gives us the opportunity to disclose our view to ourselves. In the process, it advances us toward more professional behaviors. For example, I have been struggling to understand my views about non-Western science. Some people advocate for alternative ways of allowing students from other cultures to identify with science. They suggest that this could be accomplished by using the label "indigenous science" to signal the difference. On the other hand, there are others who have suggested that attaching science to other perspectives is a bad idea. In a sense, adding "science" implies that other worldviews are not as legitimate as science.
If we treat science as a way of knowing then it may not be necessary to position it so it seems superior to non-scientific ways of understanding the world. To be sure, science is very inadequate for answering important questions. For example, why is Into The Mystic such an amazing song when nobody seems to know what the lyrics mean. I doubt science can help me with that puzzle. But how can I find imagine science being taught so that it is made accessible to all types of students from a wide variety of backgrounds … without suggesting that scientific ways of thinking are superior?
Somehow I suspect that I won't be able to resolve this from my office. On the other hand, I doubt I can figure this out simply by immersing myself in science classrooms. It seems that the best combination would be a little bit of both: working with diverse students as they learn science AND spending considerable time and energy being self-reflexive about those events.
It is important to uncover our preconceptions about education. Self-reflexivity gives us the opportunity to disclose our view to ourselves. In the process, it advances us toward more professional behaviors. For example, I have been struggling to understand my views about non-Western science. Some people advocate for alternative ways of allowing students from other cultures to identify with science. They suggest that this could be accomplished by using the label "indigenous science" to signal the difference. On the other hand, there are others who have suggested that attaching science to other perspectives is a bad idea. In a sense, adding "science" implies that other worldviews are not as legitimate as science.
If we treat science as a way of knowing then it may not be necessary to position it so it seems superior to non-scientific ways of understanding the world. To be sure, science is very inadequate for answering important questions. For example, why is Into The Mystic such an amazing song when nobody seems to know what the lyrics mean. I doubt science can help me with that puzzle. But how can I find imagine science being taught so that it is made accessible to all types of students from a wide variety of backgrounds … without suggesting that scientific ways of thinking are superior?
Somehow I suspect that I won't be able to resolve this from my office. On the other hand, I doubt I can figure this out simply by immersing myself in science classrooms. It seems that the best combination would be a little bit of both: working with diverse students as they learn science AND spending considerable time and energy being self-reflexive about those events.
