Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Moving from misconceptions to useful starting points
Meredith Thompson

           The fact that there are so many misunderstandings of scientific ideas implies that learning science is not easy. It’s not always a good match for the knowledge we have already built from experience. My six year old son Zachary and I were talking about the reason why things float. At one point, Zachary replied “Mom, that’s your science. I’m talking about my science”. Zachary’s comment is pertinent to misconceptions. In our daily lives we all develop a “science” when we find ways to explain what happens and why. Squeezing a balloon makes it pop. Water boils faster in a pressure cooker. Shaking a soda can makes it get bubbly. These ideas are useful and reinforced by everyday experience. However, individuals see these phenomena as distinct and following different rules. Scientists see everything as following fewer, more abstract rules (force of pressure on molecules).  Sometimes there is evidence to support their ideas (ideal gas law, force per unit area, atomic theory of matter), but often the evidence is as unfamiliar as the new set of rules that science suggests. 

            What if we recognized that scientific concepts are difficult to accept? Maybe students who develop and retain “misconceptions” are actually being “scientific”. Like any good scientist, a student creates theories about how the world works. Sometimes these theories don’t align with science, resulting in a misconception. Students who remain unconvinced based on evidence that does not fit with their worldview are also being scientific. As teachers, our job is to find relevant, meaningful evidence to help us make the case for our alternative view of the world. As students, it’s our job to suspend disbelief long enough to “see” a different way of looking at things, and do our best to understand the supporting evidence. Viewed this way, the gap between scientific explanations and evidence that is acceptable to the students are not misconceptions, they are missed connections.

Monday, January 4, 2016

Welcome
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Here I will share some of the crazy and wonderful ideas that inspire me to learn and create and do, as well as some activities I've tried with in classrooms and in informal settings.

I studied chemistry and geology at Cornell and my passion is getting people inspired about science. I've worked with some amazing folks at Tufts, Boston University, Harvard, and MIT, as well as schools in Somerville, Boston, Malden, Medford, and Winchester.

I hope some of these ideas inspire you as well!

Meredith

Here are some links:

Full STEAM Ahead - a celebration of science, technology, engineering, arts, and math at Lincoln Elementary School coordinated by a group of parents including yours truly!

SoundscienceFun! - An interactive program about the science of musical instruments, developed by Chris & Meredith Thompson

Elemental Instruments - classroom tested instruments for illustrating science concepts to elementary school children

All about walls - classroom tested activity about different types of walls (stone, wooden, concrete, brick).

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Full STEAM ahead 2016 was an amazing success!
Pictures on Principal Kelly Clough's blog can be found here
Press release from Winchester Patch here

Full STEAM Ahead!

A celebration of science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics for all ages

Thursday, February 25, 2016  6-8pm
Lincoln Elementary School - gym
161 Mystic Valley Parkway
Winchester MA 01890

Thank you to all of our volunteers, supporters, and partners!


 These partners run ongoing STEAM activities.......

Thank you to these partners too!