What Do You Do If...

            The problem my class was presented with was: "A child in your class says, 'I hate math! I'm not good at math, and never will be!", what experiences do you think this child has had in his or her life that contribute to this child's feelings about his or herself, math, and his or her relationship to math?"

            I can defnitely relate to this student because I was this student at one time, and sometimes still think of myself in this way now. In class, the student most likely does not fully understand the material because it is either not taught in their learning style so it is easily understandable, or he or she simply could not grasp the concept in the manner the teacher taught it. Because of this, the students begins getting lower grades in math than desird, and might even start to compare his or herself to the rest of his or her classmates. It is likely for some students to receive negative feedback on an assignment or test and they shut down. They are no longer feeling good about themselves in relationship to math, so they stop trying. For me, maths in upper elementary and middle school were hard for me. When I got to high school, all of a sudden math started clicking more and more and I started getting increasingly better grades in the subject. I do not know why I started getting better at math the older I became, but I know at one point in my life I was that kid presented in the example. I believe every student at one point in his or her life has a struggle in school with a certain subject. They most likely have a difficult time understanding the concept based on the way it was presented. Because they are not fully understanding the concept, they begin getting "bad" grades on tests and assignments and start feeling hopeless about their math skills. As a future teacer, I hope this never occurrs in my classroom. Fostering student's positive attitudes toward school in general in something every teacher should do, and it is the teacher's responsibility to meet any negative attitudes head on in the classroom.

Pendulum Motion

From reading this article, I have found myself thinking even more of the processes that science goes through. Even though I did learn a lot about the pendulum, I was even more astounded by the steps in which Galileo had to go through to get to his ultimate goal.

When Galileo first came up with his theory of the pendulum, he came upn multiple road blocks. One being his good friend, del Monte. Not only did del Monte disagree with Galileo's theory of the pendulum, but he also experimented it to prove it wrong. Del Monte questioned Galileo's methods of how he came up with his theory and told Galileo that his mathematics were not applicable to this situation. After this set back, Galileo persisted and even though he died before he could finish his pendulum, a Dutch scientist took over his legacy of the pendulum and proved it correct.

Another bit I found interesting in this article is a quote found on the upper right of the first page, "The study of pendulum motion illustrates how science may be influenced by social and economic problems, and how science can in turn impact society. This mutual impact is not unusual, and is illustrated throughout historical and contemporary science and society." I love this quote for multiple reasons. Looking back at the past few years, I understand how certain situations can influence science. One thing that came to mind was global warming. Global warming has caught many people's attention, and in turn, there has been an influx of attention to it in the science world. The fact that the same occured during Galileo's era concerning time is very interesting to me. Galileo would not let the science of time be a problem, so he did something about it. He tried his hardest to find a way to keep time better for the society. This helped the world both economically and socially. People were able to continue trading between countries as well as improve their relations with other areas of the world.

Galileo's perseverance for the pendulum has made  me think about our experiments in class. This article has taught me that perseverance is key when it comes to science. Not giving up, and not knowing the exact answer should not keep one from trying their hardest at finding the correct answers.

"The Virtues of Not Knowing"

"The Virtues of Not Knowing," to me, is a very impactful text. It stresses the importance of figuring out an answer rather than being told an answer. By applying different theories to an experiment or situation, one is able to go through a thinking process that is beneficial to them in the long run. This helps one's understanding of science. If someone just simply knows the answer to a question, they will not fully understand all the factors that contributes to the experiment. I loved the examples of the students figuring out how different bottles can hold the same water, yet the amount of water looks compeletly different. The student's thought process shows how rewarding it is for a child to figure out the correct answer on his or her own. Sometimes, simply just telling a student the answer is not the correct way to teach a concept. As a future educator, this article gave me a lot to think about. Hopefully from reading this text, I can alter some of my teaching styles to use this type of reasoning in my classroom. In this way, I can get my children to appreciate the virtue of not knowing.